



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

CORNER GRAND AND SOUTH STREETS. 



ITS CONSTRUCTION WAS BEGUN AUGUST 8. 1857. IT WAS DEDICATED 
NOYKMliKH 4, 1838. 



For the purpose of historical accuracy, the corrections of errors found 
in the following pages, are here inserted: 

Page 11. For E. G. F. Marsh, read E. ./. F. Marsh. 

Page 12. For Evanston and Everston, read Evertson. 

Page 12. For Robert C. Rankin, read Robert O. Rankin. 

Page 12. For Oirisworth, read Oriswold. 

Page 12. For Thomas P. Fish, read Thomas F. Fish. 

Page 12. Strike out the following names in the list of Trustees; Henry 
Tice, Samuel Nichols, Abel Belknap, Eli H. Coriain. 

Page 12. For Chas. H. Johnes, read ('has. A. Johnes. 

Page 12. For John Uubois, read />n/>i>i.*. 

Page 13. For Ackman Speir, read Aikman Sneir. 

Page 46. For last sentence, substitute: This was a token of grateful 
remembrance from Miss Julia Ferguson, a parishioner of the late Rev. Dr. 
John Johnston. 



1784. 1884. 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



OF THE 



First Presbyterian Church, 



NEWBURGH, N. Y. 



REV. WILLIAM K. HALL, D. D , Pastor 



NEWBURGH, N. Y.: 
Journal P House and Cook Bindery. 

1884 






OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 1884. 



PASTOR, 
Rev. William K. Hall, D. D. 



ELDERS, 



James 0. Conklin, Charles E. Snyder, 

Daniel S. Waring, Martin L. Lee, 

M. c. Belknap, John Schoonmaker, 

I J. Howell. 

George Barnes. 
CLERK OF SESSION, . . . M.C.Belknap. 



DEACONS, 



Henry W. Siglar. 
Willi \m C. Belkb \i\ 
Joii.n C. II LSBROUCK. 



Treasurer of Church Fund, . John C. Hasbroitk. 



TRUSTEES, 



William 0. Mailler, Robert Walsh, 

M. C. Belknap, Howard Thornton, 

John Schoonmaker, Stephen King, 

Sami el Stanton, David Carson, 

Jonas Willlims. 



Presided of Board of Trustees, . William 0, Mailler, 
Clerk and Treasurer, . . . M. C. Bblkjs up. 



oil 
I of 



A meeting of the Officers of the Church was convened ai the Parsonage, Wed- 
nesday evening, September 24th, for the purpose of considering the question of 
celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the organization of the Church. 

Upon motion the pastor was chosen Chairman and Howard Thornton Secre- 
tary. 

It was resolved that the hundredth anniversary of the Church be marked by 
some appropriate services, and that a committee be appointed by the Pastor to 
make arrangements for the same ; that this committee consist of five persons, two 
Elders, two Trustees, and one Deacon ; that the Pastor be Chairman, <:r officio 
of the Committee ; that the date of the Celebration be fixed by the < !ommittee. 

The following persons were appointed— Elders D. S. Waring and M. C. Bel- 
knap; Trustees W. 0. Mailler, ami J. Schoonmaker; Deacon J. C. Hasbrouck. 

It was furthermore resolved that upon the occasion, memorial tabletsto the two 
deceased Pastors of the Church, Rev. John Johnston, !>.!>., and Rev. W. T. Sprole, 
D.D., be erected in the Church, and that the i 'on unit tec l> • authorized to consult a 
competent architect with reference to materials and design. 



A meeting of this ( lominittee was held Monday, September 29th. John C. Has- 
brouck was chosen Secretary. 

Upon motion, it was resolved that the preparations for the Church Centennial 
be apportioned to five committees, viz.: 

< 'ommiu i n Programme and invitations. 

( !ommittee on Tablet. 
( lominittee on Finance. 
( lominittee on Reception. 
( lominittee on 1 )ecorat ions. 

Thai the Pastor appoint the Chairmen of these Committees and that the Chair- 
men select such members of the < longregation to co-operate with them as they may 
deem advisable. 

The following appointments were made : 

On Programme and Invitations, . . Wm. 0. Mailler. 

On Tablets M. C. Belknap. 

( >n Finance, D. S. Waring. 

On Reception, J Schoonmaker. 

On Decoration. ...... J. C. Hasbrouck. 



PROGRAMME. 



Sunday, November 9, 10.30 A. M. 
Historical Discourse, by the Pastor, Rev. Win. K. Hall, D.D. 



Thursday, Nor.,,,/,, ,■ ;;}//,, 2.30 /'. .1/. 

Anthem. 

Reading of the Scriptures, . . Rev. J. O. Denniston. 

Prayer— Rev. Irving Magee, D.D. 

Hymn. 

Address of Welcome, . . Rev. William K. Hall, D.D. 

UNVEILING OP MEMORIAL TABLET. 

Memorial Address upon Rev. John Johnston, D.D. 
Rev. S. I Prime, D.D. 

Address— Rev. John Forsyth, D.D. 

Hymn. 

Memorial Address upon Rev. W. T. Sprole, D. D. 

Hon. E. L. Pancher, LL.D. 



GREETINGS : 

From Presbytery of North River, . . Rev. F. B. Wheeler, D.D. 

From Calvary Presbyterian Church Rev. J. Searle. 

From Newburgh Ministers and Others. 



Hymn, 

(Composed for the occasion by Rev. F. H. Wheeler, D. D.) 

Benediction. 



Thursday Evening, 7.30 o'clock. 

Anthem. 

Doxology. 

invocation, Rev. J. Macnaughtan. 

Reading of Psalm. 

Hymn. 

Reading of Scriptures. 

Pra yer Rev. J. Searle. 

Sermon— Kev. Howard Crosby, D.D. 

Prayer, Rev. F. B. Savage. 

Hymn. 

(Composed for the occasion by Rev. J. Macnaughtan.) 

Benediction. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 



Preached Sunday, Nov. 9, 18S4. 

BY REV. WILLIAM K. HALL, D. D. 

Deuteronomy xxxii: 7—" Rememb sr the days of old. Consider the years of many 
generations. Ask thy father and he will show thee, thy Elders and they will 
tell thee." 

This song of Moses which he gave to his people as his long and eventful life 
drew to its close is characterized by the intensest desire fur the glory and honor 
of God. Beautiful as it i> in its imagery, vigorous as it is in its diction, elevated 
as it is in its sentiment, the beauty, vigor and elevation of the spiritual that per- 
vades if, particularly impress us. His soul is on lire with its zeal for the God 
of Israel. The memories of what (rod had done for their fathers move him with 
the deepest longing and solicitude tor their grateful obedience. He must give 
one more testimony before he lays down his earthly work to the goodness and 
mercy of God and warn them against the forgetfulness of it. It is to be his last 
testimony, his final appeal. Into this sublime ode or "Song," as it is called, from 
which the text is taken, all the energies of a genius inspired to the utini ist reach i if 
its powers are thrown. 

I have chosen it simply for the spirit it breathes upon us and for the suggestion 
it gives of the witness the history of our Church will present to ns of the gracious 
goodness and preserving grace of God. We are to take together a rapid view of 
the century's life this Church has lived. As we do it let ns hear the voice of this 
past of the generations gone who with their fathers and elders are bidding us to 
be faithful to our (rod and obedient to His Word. 

Before beginning this historical review, it is proper for me to say that 1 shall 
not burden your minds or weary your patience with many statistics or dates. Only 
those tha.t are absolutely necessary to place before you a clear and continuous 
record of the Church life will be presented. It is the purpose of the committee to 
have printed for preservation and future reference a full report of all the exercises 
of this ( ,'entennial Anniversary. In thai report will appear many things of a sta- 
tistical nature omitted in this discourse, including a complete list of the officers of 
the Church. 

A little more than a twelve-month has passed since Newburgh celebrated the 
Centennial that commemorated the closing events of the Revolution. A few 
months only elapsed after the encampments upon these surrounding hills were de- 
serted by the disbanded patriot army when this ( !hurch had its formal, legal exist- 
ence. Its history, therefore, is cotemporaneous with our national history. But 
previous to this time for nearly a score of years, there bad been a religious organ- 
ization here composed of those who were by education and conviction of the Pres- 
byterian faitli -or in the language of those days. " in communion with the Church 
of Scotland." It was an informal society, somewhat irregular and incomplete as 
to its ecclesiastical struct u re, and constituting hardly more than an outlying mission 
station or district. But it was so far independent as to have its own Board of 
Trustees and the management of its own temporal affairs and the freedom of co- 
operating with other neighboring societies in the choice and support of a minister. 
We find that according to the Ministers of the Marlboro Society in the year seven- 
teen hundred and seventy-three (1773) it united with that society in procuring the 
supply of a Minister for both congregations for a very brief period. It appears 
however to have been in their earlier years, in more cordial and active sympathy 
with the old Church at Bethlehem— the venerable mother of all the Presbyterian 
Churches in this region. To her it looked for religious aid and oversight and from 
her it received co-operation in supplying the religious needs of this then sparsely 
settled district. 

Through the long gloomy years of the Revolution ami amid all the distractions 
incident upon the long encampment of the army in its vicinity, this feeble congre- 
gation continued to maintain its existence, though having no pastoral supervision 
other than that given by an elder William Lawrence. 

Immediately after the close of the war the organization "strengthened," as the 
Historian of Newburgh tells us, " by the addition of several persons who became 
permanent residents on the disband'ment of the army, obtained the building which 



6 

had been erected by the army as a storehouse for clothing, where it appears to 
bave held public worship in the winter of seventeen hundred and eignty-tbree 
(1783), or spring of seventeen hundred and eighty-four 0784)." We learn from the 
Church Records that Divine service was held in this building in seventeen hundred 
and eighty-four, and that on the twelfth (12th I day of July of that year this feeble 
flock formally organized itself as a Presbyterian Society under the laws of the 
State, enacted the preceding April. It elected as its Trustees, Adolph Degrove, 
Daniel Hudson. Thomas Palmer, Joseph Coleman and Isaac Belknap. Who or 
how many constituted this corporate Society we do not know. Its roll of member- 
ship has not been preserved. We judge that they must have been weak both in 
financial means and in members, as they were unable to provide for the entire sup- 
port of a Minister. In the February of the following year, they united with the 
congregation in New Windsor, the compact to continue for seven years, "for the 
purpose." as the resolution stated, "of promoting the preaching of the Gospel." 

Prom 178a to 1790 the Rev. John Close was the stated supply. He was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Isaac Lewis, who served also as stated supply until the year of 
1800. On May 6th, 1801, the Rev. John Freeman was installed pastor over the two 
Congregations. He resigned his charge in 1804, and was succeeded by the Rev. 
Eleazer Burnet in the following year, whose brief pastorate was terminated by 
death one year later. On the 5th of July 1807, the Rev. John Johnston was or- 
dained and installed pastor over the two Churches and continued to hold this rela- 
tion until 1810, when the union was dissolved and the Newburgh congregation 
having acquired sufficient strength to support alone a pastor secured exclusively 
his services. Thus for more than forty years the Society had continued its uninter- 
rupted life, and for twenty-six years as a legally incorporated organization, and 
hail not been able during all this period to furnish the support for a Minister. We 
can infer from this the degree of their feebleness and measure of their poverty as 
well as their pluck and their pertinacity. The history of the early beginning of 
other denominations among us that date back to those early days show also how 
hard was the struggle for self-continuance. When we turn to secular history and 
learn that the first settlers here upon this patent, the "Palatines." who in their 
places of nativity had occupied lands of the richest and finest soil, were discour- 
aged from obtaining a livelihood on these, then sterile hills, sold their farms and 
emigrated to more attractive fields, we can understand with what severity of toil and 
with what patience of spirit their successors endeavored to maintain existence. < Had 
enough these few earnest spirits must have been to secure that old shabby store- 
house from the • 'ommissary General for a place of worship. And doubtless it was 

with devout thanksgiving to God they took possession of -t and c upied it as their 

Church home. Such was their poverty that even the Church building, erected 
eighl years afterwards upon the same site, was left in an unfinished condition. It 
was hardly tenable. Dr. Johnston tells us in his autobiography that " it was with- 
out galleries, plastering or pulpit — a mere shell, ami that he often preached stand- 
ing on a carpenter's bench with a few boards on which to rest the precious Bible."' 
And the Bible which he used is the Bible now before me, from which the Scripture 
lesson has been read this morning. The historian of Orange County tells us that 
" the congregation was too poor to finish the building and place pews in it, and 
that the plan devised to seat it was, that every person who chose to do so, should 
have tie' privilege of putting up his own pew, with a choice of location for so 
doing." As the pews varied in form and size according to the taste of the several 
owners, the appearance presented must have been very strange and grotesque. 
And not only did these few Christian families have to contend with poverty. The 
community was pervaded with a spirit of irreligion and infidelity. Tin' openly 
avowed infidels were sufficiently numerous and strong to form a Club or Society for 
the dissemination of their opinions ; to hire a man. a certain apostate minister, 

upon a stipulated annual salary, to give public lectures on the Sabbath upon the 

teachings of Rousseau, Paine, Voltaire and others, and to support a weekly news 
paper devoted to their cause. Their attacks upon Christianity and the Christian 

Church were UlOSl virulent. So notorious was the place for its wickedness, for its 

open flagrant vice as well as for this determined spirit of opposition to the Chris 
ti.m religion and its institutions, that the frien,ds of Mr. Johnston, hearing of his 
purpose to accept the call to a pastorate here, remonstrated with him and begged 

him to r sider it. His biographj states that his mother wept and besought him 

not to locate in such a wicked place. 

It was in the midst of such surroundings and in the face of such obstacles that 
this little band of t 'hristian disciple.- tailed not through all the years to bear heroic 



witness for the truth and with steadfast zeal to maintain their foothold as a Chris- 
tian Church. 

When Mr. Johnston came to Newburgh though the leaders of this infidel party 
had di>-d and its strength and members had considerably diminished, yet the 
baneful effects of the influences that had long been at work remained. There was 
a widespread apathy and indifference to the cause of religion. In the young par- 
ticularly these effects were marked. The few people who cordially welcomed him 
and were eager to co-operate with him were chiefly those of advanced age. The 
Church at no time had numbered t - e than sixty-five, and only numbered thirty- 
seven when he assumed the charge of it. So we can understand how, under all 
these combined circumstances, 1 1 utli n ik must have been very dark and discour- 
aging to this young man entering upon his first pastoral charge. 

But it was not long b 'fore the outlook brightened. The spirit in which he had 

undertaken his work, which was indicated by the text he chose for Ms (irst ser n 

— " Brethren pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be 

glorified among you." was imunicated to the faithful few who stood around 

him. Earnest prayer, accompanied with the faithful preaching of the Word of 
God, soon produced a marked change in the moral tone and religious life of the 

community. 1 judge from all that I have i n able to gather from written record 

and from conversation with those who had personal acquaintance with l>r. John- 
ston, the members of his flock and others, that he was not by mental nature or 
habit a disputant. He did not love controversy. He preached the Gospel in its 
simplicity, confident that it would win its own triumphs, giving no heed to the 
attacks that were made upon it by unbelievers. In this respect he differed 
from his predecessors and from ministers generally who came occasionally for a 
Sabbath to preach in Newburgh. They thought that it was their first and imper- 
ative duty to expose the falsity of these infidel teachings, and to reason down and 
away these fatal errors that had act i nired such dominance in the community. His 
reliance was upon the Word of God as the instrument of the Divine Spirit for 
enlightenment and conviction, and upon prayer for the blessing of the Spirit's pres- 
ence and aid. The practical and sanctified wisdom of such a course was soon made 
apparent. His people were spiritually quickened. The attendance upon Divine 
service was greatly increased. He had instituted a weekly prayer meeting, which 
was held in the homes of his people. A larger place was soon found to be neces- 
sary. A (diapel fir lecture room was built for the purpose. And thus the good 
work begun went steadily forward -until in the fifth and sixth year of his pastorate 
there was a large and genuine revival of religion. It was the first revival of reli- 
gion Newburgh had ever witnessed. The faith of Christians was greatly strength- 
ened. The Church was enlarged by the addition of many earnest converts, among 
whom was one who afterward became a very successful minister of the gospel, and 
another the wife of a devoted missionary. Three years later his ministry was 
blessed with another spiritual refreshing, when nearly fifty more were added to 
the church, among whom was one who became a minister of the gospel. In look- 
ing over the records of the church and Dr. .Johnston's own memoranda of inter- 
esting events in his ministry, I noted that there were seven such marked events in 
his ministry, and I was impressed with the fact that among their garnered fruit were 
so many that became afterwards Preachers of the Word and Elders of the Church — 
a fact in which the faithful and grateful Pastor found great joy. 

Time does not allow me to give you any detailed account of the long and suc- 
cessful ministry of this servant of God. Nor does it allow me— if 1 were adequately 
furnished for the task— to give you a description of his character. Others more 
capable of doing this than myself, who were personally observant of some of that 
work and were intimately acquainted with the man will speak to us at the Memo- 
rial service, on Thursday next, and to them are committed this duty and privilege. 
It is only proper for me to remark, in a very general way, thai the Church during 
the pastorate of Dr. Johnston this honorary title was conferred upon him in the 
filler part of his ministry by Lafayette College was lifted out of insignificance 
into prominence, out of weakness into commanding strength ; that whereas there 
were less than two-score communicants when lie became it- pastor, there were 
years when upward- of four hundred wt-rr reported as its membership to the Pres- 
bytery. The church roll has the names of nearly a thousand that were added to 

it during his ministry. It beca the source mid center of a powerful influence in 

the community. With the efficient aid of Churches of other denominations that 
were from time to time organized as the population increased, it elevated decidedly 
the moral tone of the community. The drift of public sentiment was entirely 



changed. Newburgh became as distinguished for its sobriety as before forifsdrunk- 
enness. for its morality as before for its vice, for its Sabbath keeping as before for its 
Sabbath desecration, and for its religious spirit as it had been before for its infi- 
delity. 

And to this day it has retained these changed features of public and social life. 
Once, twice the Church building was enlarged to accommodate the increasing con- 
gregations. In the summer of 1837 a second Presbyterian Church was organized, 
and mainiy through the urgent and oft-repeated appeals and earnest personal ef- 
forts of this zealous pastor. It was his heart's desire to see the Kingdom of God 
advancing in this region, and it had long been his cherished wish to send out a 
colony from his own Church to plant another of a like faith and order in Newburgh. 
This second Church, largely in consequence of the agitations that arose over the 
division of the Presbyterian Church into the Old and New Schools, which took 
place at this time, did not gciin a firm footing. It had for a while a languishing ex- 
istenee and then died. At the start it united with the New School branch, and by 
this it alienated some of its prominent members and withdrew itself from the active 
sympathy and aid of the mother church, which had by a very derided majority 
voted to continue its organic relations with the Old School. Dr. Johnston's pas- 
torate extended over a period of forty eight years, dining which more than fifty 
Ministers preached for a longer or shorter time in Newburgh, with all of whom he 
had mainta'ned most friendly relations. Between him and his nearest clerical 
neighbors, the Rev. Dr. McCarrell, pastor of the Associate Reformed Church, and 
the late Dr. Brown, pastor of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with the former 
for thirty-three years and with the latter for thirty-nine years, there existed 
without interruption or jar the most cordial Christian friendliness and Christian 
courtesy. 

For such a useful, honored life and for such a glorious, imperishable work we 
can best voice our praise and gratitude in the inspired words which he chose as a 
text for a series of discourses delivered only a few months before his death, in 
which he reviewed his ministry. It is the twenty-first verse of the third chapter of 
the Epistle to the Ephesians, " Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus 
throughout all ages, world without end, Amen.'' 

Dr. Johnston's death occurred on the 22d of August, 1855. and on the 19th of the 
following December the congregation called the Rev. S. H. McMullen to the vacant 
pastorate. Mr. McMullen had been for some months the assistant of Dr. Johnston 
and had greatly endeared himself to many of the people. A remonstrance, how- 
ever, from the minority against his settlement was presented to the Presbytery, 
which had such weight with that judicial body that it hesitated to put the call into 
the hands of the young pastor-elect. The commissioners appointed to prosecute 
the call before the Presbytery decided to delay until receiving further instruction 
from the congregation. The call was renewed. But the Presbytery deemed it in- 
expedient to settle Mr. McMullen under all the ^existing circumstances. The con- 
gregation did not further press the matter. 

On the 27th day of August, of the following year, 1850, forty five members re- 
quested dismission from the Church to constitute another Church, and the request 
was granted. It was at this time and with these persons together with others that 
soon joined them that what is now Calvary Presbyterian Church was organized. 
On the 10th of September following, a call was made out to the Rev. W. T. Sprole, 
D.D., and on the twenty-eighth day of the ensuing month he was installed pastor 

of the church. He came having had a large and rij sperience from a ministry 

in Philadelphia, Carlisle and Washington, and from the Chaplaincy and a Profes- 
sorship at West Point .Military Academy. He was a man richly endowed with men- 
tal gifts, of commanding personal appearance, of strong individuality and possess- 
ing many rare and amiable qualifications for a successful minister of the GospeL 
But I must not yield to the inclination to enter into any just description of the 
elements of power that an analysis of his character would present. This is not 
the hour and 1 am not the person to speak in detail of one whom so many of you 
knew so well and loved, whose ministrations were blessed to your spiritual good, 
and whose name will he cherished among your most tender and sacred memories. 
Fitting words regarding his life and character will be spoken by one whose loving 
hands have already sketched a vivid portraiture of them in a Memorial which is the 
beautiful tribute of warm personal friendship. 

With the settlement of Dr. Sprole the church entered upon a fresh and invigor- 
ated life. His pulpit abilities attracted large congregations. The old meeting 



house which even in Dr. Johnston's time had been too limited in its accommoda- 
tions for the congregation, proved now wholly inadequate to their needs. The 
question of building a new one had been agitated as far back as 1827. At that time 
the Board of Trustees resolved that one should be built, but fortunately with the 
proviso if it could be done " with unity, peace and harmony." Tin 1 matter pro- 
gressed so far that arrangements for services in tic Academy while the new build- 
ing was being constructed were proposed. There is a very significant though 
rather unsatisfactory note appended to the minutes recording the resolutii ins upon 
this subject: "Owing to circumstances not necessary to mention there was nothing 
done about building a new meeting house.'' 

Hut the time had now come when it must be done. The demand was impera- 
tive. And on the 25th of July, 1857, the Trustees resolved to go forward with the 
enterprise. This present site was wisely chosen, but not without much discussion 
and opposition, for there were some who were so strongly attached to the old loca- 
tion that they could not readily entertain the thought of having the new Church 
edifice elsewhere. On that old site that of the present Union Presbyterian Church 
— had stood the old storehouse of Revolutionary times, which their lathers had 
converted into a place of worship, [t seemed to them holy ground. Hut happily 
from our point of view to-day more judicious counsels prevailed. And here it 
was built, a massive atructure, grand in its proportions, beautiful in the symmetry 
of its outlines, a Christian Temple suggestive of the Scripture words spoken of old. 
"I will make the place of my feet glorious." The work was begun on the 8th of 
August, 1857. It was dedicated November 5th, 1858, and on November 10th 
(Thanksgiving Day) the iron cross was raised ami fixed on the spire. A few words 
in regard to the old Church building may be of interest to some, especially to the 
young. It was sold to the fjnion Associate Reformed Church which then wor- 
shipped in what is now the Hethel Chapel. This church was a child of the vener 
able Associate Reformed Church, now under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Mac- 
naughtan, and its first pastor was the Rev. John Forsyth. Very soon after its re- 
moval it united with the old Scotch branch of the Presbyterian Church. Thirteen 
years later, in 1871, the old meeting house was removed to give place tothe present 
commodious and attractive edifice now occupied by that congregation. 

But to return. The prosperity of the Church in this, its new and stately home, 
continued. Its pecuniary resources were increased. Its roll of membership was 
extended. It kept full pace with the growth of the community in population and 
material wealth. The sixteen years, which was the duration of Dr. Sprole's pas- 
torate marked an important era in the life of the Church. At what was probably 
the most critical time in its history he assumed the pastoral charge of it. Under 
the blessing of Cxod his labors imparted a fresh inspiration of zeal and energy. A 
few years later the town made rapid advance in all material interests. It became 
a city. Amid all this pr >gress, and with this awakened spirit of enterprise around 
it. this Church was not behind its sister Churches "in lengthening its cords and 
strengthening its stakes." These years were years of great usefulness and invalu- 
able service to the Church. 

Dr. Sprole resigned his charge November 4, 1872. In the year 1874, he accepted 
the call of the Second Congregational Church in Detroit, which he resigned in ls?T. 
And on the 9th day of June. 1883 he "entered into the joy of the Lord." Whatever 
monument may now or hereafter mark his grave, this edifice stands as the endur- 
ing monument of his faithful ministry to this ( Ihurch. 

The congregation was not long without a minister after the resignation of Dr. 
Sprole. In February. 1873, it honored the present encumbent with a call to this 
responsible trust, and with March his ministry among you began, though the in 
stallation was postponed until .May— until after the regular Spring meeting of the 
Presbytery. Concerning these nearly twelve years of mutual labor in the cause of 
Christ and His Kingdom, it is not needful that I speak today, having so recently 
reviewed in a general way the ten years of my pastorate. Whatever statistics it is 
desirable to preserve, for future reference, will be inserted in the proposed printed 
volume, which will contain (he reports of the Centennial Anniversary of the 
Church. It is all sufficient to briefly say that I have been permitted to gather 
much fruit from the seed sown by my predecessor ; that God has blessed us with 
unity, harmony and peace, and has given us more prosperity— temporal and spir- 
itual -than our prayers and our work have deserved. These twelve years have 
wrought great changes in this congregation, of which many of you must he often 
reminded as you sit in these pews. Many honored heads of families, and among 
them not a few officers of the i 'hurcli, have passed away from us. Brethren let us 



10 

be prepared for the summons, mindful of the admonition of our Lord, "Be ye also 
ready, for in such nn hour as ye think not. the Son of man cometh." 

Thus have we taken our rapid flight over this century of church life. There- 
records show that duringthese three pastorates that cover more than three-quarters 
of this long period there have been tun thousand and ninety additions to the Church, 
fourteen hundred and twenty-three marriages, and thirteen hundred and sixty 
eight baptisms. Th sy sh iw a continuous history of prosperity. But it has not 
been without labors and prayers, which no record has or can preserve. The life 
even of a man can never be truly written, much less that of a Church. There 
arc a few reflections which have nunc to my own mind as I have been busy in 
these historical researches, one or two of which I desire to give to you before clos- 
ing. Time will not permit me to amplify even these. They are in the spirit of the 
text. ''In remembering the days of old and considering the years of many genera- 
tions," we learn that the Church of Christ has in itself an enduring strength and an 
all conquering force. These are to be found in the truth upon which it is built— 
upon the Christ who is the answer of man's conscious or unconscious need. That 
truth lies in the depths of every man's conscience. To the decree it is taught in its 
purity and simplicity and in the prayerful dependence upon the Almighty Spirit of 
truth and holiness, it will prove to be its own witness. The conflict of this truth 
with error in the early history of this church is a, bright illustration of this. Its 
triumphs are a testimony to us of the present generation who look upon these 
same everlasting hills upon which they looked, and to those who shall look upon 
them after we are gone to the abiding power of the simple Truth of the Gospel 
over unbelief and error. 

We learn too that in this Church of Christ there are not only this inherent 
strength and force for its own preservation, but for the moral life and health of 
t he community in which it exists. It is not too much to say that from the Church, 
whatever be its shortcomings, and they are many; whatever be the faults of its ad- 
ministration and its works, and they are not a few, there are ever proceeding those 
silent and active influences which are for the promotion and conservation of the 
good morals of a community, which are for the protection of society against the 
evils and the vices that would destroy the happiness of its homes and retard its 
prosperity. What were the moral condition of Newburgh to-day ; what its man- 
ners and customs ; what the advantages and prospects offered to its youth; what 
the respect for government, for law and order ; what the safety of its homes by 
night ; what the safety of its pedestrians by night or by day, were it not for the 
Churches of Christy Take also in the briefest form this thought for reflection. 

The influence of this Church of Christ that has so nobly sustained its life 
through these hundred years, and in that time has done so grandly its part in the 
moral and spiritual education of the community, has been only the aggregate of 
the moral and spiritual forces uirch each member has contributed. They lived 
unconscious of the full value of their humble work. It has been enduring. It is 
imperishable. There is in this thought great encouragement for us of to-day, who, 
receiving this sacred heritage from the fathers, are seeking to preserve it and to 
perpetuate it. Take to-day anew into your hearts the precious promise of our 
Lord, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 



The records of the Trustees of the Church are complete from the day 
of its incorporation — the 12th of August, 1784 — to the present time. 
Among the very early records are some " items" of peculiar interest from 
which the following are selected : 

1787.— Nov. 2: 

Inventory of property, made under the State-law: 

Meeting House cost much out of repair) 40 pounds. 

Land belonging thereto | .North i 60 " 

100 pounds. 
1705.— March 23: 

Voted that three pounds per annum be allowed Mr. I, awrence for sweeping the 
house and keeping an eye to tin' windows and taking charge of the key. 



11 

1796.— Sept 5 : 

Resolved, That ministers of the Presbytery be accommodated with lodgings, etc., 
at the houses of the following persons, viz.: John Anderson two, John McAulay 
two, Benjamin Case t wo, Edmund Griswold two, Isaac Hasbrouck two, and Alex 
ander Wood one. 
1798 January 22: 
Invited Rev. Mr. Lewis for three months on trial, for 37 pounds 10 shillings. 

The Sessional Records extant date from April 25, 1799, and are complete to the 

present time. The church roll at that time contains thirty-five na s, eleven 

males, twenty-four females. Only two of them are familiar family names in our 
church life to day— those of Belknap and Hasbrouck. This number was afterward 
increased to sixty-live, though when Dr. Johnston assumed the pastorate there were 

upon the roll only thirty-seven names. These Records during ll arlier years 

consist chiefly of cases of Church discipline, as do the records of all our churches. 
But there is one item of especial and unusual interest, and as it reflects deserved 

credit upon the pastor whose faithful service has been brought afresh bef or r 

minds, should be particularly noted. It relates to the founding of two scholarships 
in Princeton Seminary, by members of the Church. 

Dr. Johnston took a deep interest in the education of young-men for the ministry. 
He was a devoted, zealous friend of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. lie 
stood alone in his Presbytery, both in his advocacy and in his vote, when the pro 
position was sent by the General Assembly to ascertain the wishes of the Presby- 
tery regarding the establishment of this Seminary. Through his instrumentality 
two scholarships of twenty live hundred dollars each were secured lor it from mem 
bers of this Church. The right to name the beneficiaries was invested in the- Ses 
sion of the Church. 

One was founded in 1831 by Robert Hall and his sister Marion, and named by 
them the E. I). Scholarship. [For an explanation of this title see Joshua xx., 34. J 
The Church Records state that they were natives of Scotland, and had been 
brought up under the ministry of Dr. 'Brown of Haddington. For the greater part 
of their lives they had been scl 1 teachers in Scotland and this country. 

The other scholarship, which was productive in is:;:, was founded about the same 
time by Gilbert King, and was named after the founder the "King Scholarship." 
These benefactors were buried in the old ( lemetery adjoining the I ihureh. Marion 
Hall, who died at an advanced age, requested if anything was put upon her head 
stone, it should be "To know as 1 am known : 1 know nothing, but 1 am gauging 
to know." 



The amounts contributed by the Church for benevolent and other causes during 
these hundred years cannot be ascertained from the • !hurch records. It is only of 
a comparative^ recent date that the < Ihurcb collections have been made a matter 
of record. The Minutes of the General Assembly, containing the reports of tic 
contributions of all its Churches to the several Boards would show the approxi 
mate amount. But as no full series of these Minutes is at hand, even this cannot 
be ascertained. 

In the review of my ten years' pastorate recently given, it was stated that the 

amount contributed in that period to various causes of benevolei was twenty-five 

thousand one hundred and sixty-seven dollars, and to congregational purposes 
seventy-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-eight dollars, making the sum total 
one hundred and four thousand three hundred and lifts- dollars, or nearly ten thou 
sand five hundred dollars yearly. During this period a parsonage has ben pur- 
chased at a cost of ten thousand dollars the free h ill offering of the people. 



During this period also the Church has maintained a prosperous Mission in the 
Bethel Chapel on North Water Street. II had existed previously as an independent 

organization, though drawing very largely its j uniary support and its teachers 

from the membership of the Church. When it becam -ganically connected with 

the Church, it was under the Superintendency of Elder Robert G. Rankin, who died 
August 29, 1878. Since then Mr. William B. Brokaw has served as Superintendent. 
The Mission litis always had tin efficient corps of workers, and litis been instrumen- 
tal under God's blessing of accomplishing great good. Mr. John ( !. Hasbrouck litis 
been for many years the Librarian. Mr. Edwin <i. F. Marsh, formerly a scholar in 
the school, now serves as Assistant Librarian, 



12 

It is'to be regretted that there is no complete list of the Superintendents of the 
Home Sabbath School. For several years it lias been under the Superintendency 
of Elder M. C. Belknap. In spite of many disadvantages from the insufficient 
accommodations afforded in the chape), the infant classes and the Bible classes 
being obliged to meet in the church, the labors of zeal, of devoted and faithful 
teachers have been greatly blessed to the Church. The present Librarian is Henry 
M. Waring, and the Assistant Librarian is Stephen J. Smith. 

The continuous Records of the Church begin with January 13th, 1801, when the 
Rev. Jonathan Freeman was called to the pastorate of the united congregations 
of New Windsor and Newburgh. He was installed May G, 1801. At that time the 
Elders of the Church were : 



Abel Belknap, 




Elected 1799. 


William Holmes, . 


Klected 1799. 


Daniel Birdsall, 




Gilbert Jones, 


William Lawrence, 
elected 1799. 






William Lawrence 


was an Elder of the Church as early as 1784. 


Selah 


Reeve 


was chosen Elder in 1793 


and Thomas Cooper in 1799. 






Since that time the 


following have serv 


ed in the Eldership : 






Sylvester Roe, 




Elected 1810. 


William K. Mailler, 


Elected 1845. 


Jacob R. Evanston. 




" " 


John McClelland, 


** 




Joseph Clark, 




" 1813. 


John W. Wells, 


" 


1856. 


Robert Magill, 




" 


Charles B. Royce, . 


44 


11 


Jacob Ostram, 




" 1816. 


Charles B. Armstrong, 


' " 


1858. 


Jacob Schultz, 




" 


Arthur Potts, . 


44 


* V 


George Betts, 




.. 


P. V. B. Fowler, . 


** 


1861. 


Henry Tice, 




" 1819. 


John L. Westervelt. 


" 




Eli H. Corwin, 




" 


James McLaurie, M.D., 


" 


41 


Abel Belknap, 




it it 


James 0. Conklin, 


" 


1867. 


Samuel Nichols, . 




*. .. 


D. S. Waring, 






William Sterling, 




" 1834. 


Kobt. ('. Rankin, 


'* 


" 


John W. Wells, . 




11 


M. C. Belknap. 


l * 


(t 


William Teller, 




'• 


James W. Taylor, . 


' ' 


1874. 


Abel Belknap, 




•' 1839. 


( lharles E. Snyder, 


" 


1875. 


Jacob Kerr, 




" 


Daniel Smith," 


" 


1879. 


Henry Tice, Jr., 




'• 1842. 


Martin L. Lee, 


'* 




EliasPeck, 




ii 


John Schoonmaker. 


l * 


L884. 


Pet ei- H. Foster, 




" 


George Barnes, 


4 ' 


* 


Benjamin Tyler, 




'• 1845. 


R. Howell, 







From the continuous 

tees has been made ; 



Records of the Trustees the following complete list of True- 



Adolph Degrove, 


Elected 1784. 


Edmund < rrisworth, 


Elected 1795 


Daniel Hudson, 


i, 


Eleazer Gidney, . 


ii n 


Thomas Palmer, 


" " 


Levi Dodge, 


" 1798 


Joseph Coleman, 


i, 


Burras Holmes, 


" 1H00 


Isaac Belknap, 


i. 


John Mandeville, 


" 1804 


Robt. Ross, 


•' ITS.",. 


Nathaniel Dubois, 


" 1814 


Benjamin ( 'offin, 


" 


Jacob Schultz, 




Benjamin Birdsall, 


it 


Jacob R. Kverston. 


" 


Gilbert Jones, M.D., . 


.. 


William Walsh, 


" 


Abel Belknap, 


.. 


( Jeorge Betts, 


" 1816 


John Bubois, 


" 1786. 


John Harris, 


" 1817. 


Benjamin Smith, 


" 1788 


Thomas l». Fish. 


" 1813 


Selall Reeve, 


" Kim. 


Henrj Tire. 


" 1818 


Christian Vanduzer, 


i. ii 


Samuel Nichols, ' 


" 


Derrick Ammerman, 


" " 


Abel Belknap, 


" 


Im ic Hasbrouck, 


" 1792. 


Eli 11. ' 'orwin. 


" 


Benjamin i lase, Sr., 


" 1793. 


Samuel Williams, 


" 1821 


Daniel Smii Ii. 


it 


John < 'handlers. 


ii lg3a 


Moses ( 'raft, 


" " 


.lames Law, 


" 1825 


John Anderson, 


ii ii 


Anion Belknap, . 


" 1828 


Richard Hill, 


" 1795. 


Chas. H. Johnes, 


" 1830 



13 



Chas. H. Bellows. . 


. Elected 1832. 


( reorge M. ( llapp, . 


Elected 18R7. 


Benjamin Carpenter, 


" 1839. 


John Gait, . 




" '• 


George Cornwell, 


" 1840. 


James W. ravlor, 




" 1869 


Ackman Speir. 


•• 1843. 


M. ('. Belknap, . 




" 1870 


William K. Mailler, 


" 1845. 


i }ei irge H. Si mthard, 




" 1871 


Lewis D. Lock wood, 


'• 1848. 


William M. Raymond, 




.. 


Robert Sterling, 


" 1840. 


George 11. < lark, 




.. i, 


Edward R. Johnes, 


•' 1855. 


William (). Mailler, 




" 


Charles 1!. Armstrong:, . 1856. 


A. S. ( lassedy, 




,. .. 


John R. Gorhain, 


.. .. 


Daniel Smith, 




" 1873 


Selah It. Van Duzer, 


.. .. 


Samuel W. Miller, . 




" 1874 


George ('lark. 


. ' '• 1858. 


Alfred Bridgeman, 




" 1878 


Daniel B. St. John, 


" 1860. 


John Scl nmaker. 




•■ 1879 


Henry Ball, . 


.. ., 


Samuel Stanton, . 




" 


Harvey Weed, 


" 


Robert Walsh, 




•• [880 


Jirah Stearns, 


. 


1 [i .ward Thornton, 




" 1882 


Benjamin Carpenter, 


. 


Stephen King, 




" * k 


< harles Root, 


. ' " 1861. 


David < 'arson. 




" 1883 




Jonas Williams 


elected 1883. 


f the 




The Records have 


preserved the following names of Presidents c 


Board o 


Trustees : 










William Walsh, . 


Elected 1818. 


E. R. Johnes, 


Ele 


:ted 1871 


S. R. Vanduzer, 


" 1856. 


J. W. Taylor, 




•' 1877 


Harvey Weed, 


" 1861. 


W. 0. Mailler. 




'• 1883 


Also the following 


names of Clerks of the Board : 






John Dubois. 


Elected 1700. 


Jacob Schultz, 


Ele 


•ted 1817 


Robert < rardiner, 


■' lT'.lii. 


E. 11. ( 'or win, . 




" 1818 


George Monell, 


" 1800. 


M. 11. Belknap, . 




" 1820 


George Betts, 


" 1814. 


M. ('. Belknap. 




" 1855 


Also the following 


names of Treasurers 








John Dubois, 


Elected 1700. 


John Harris, 


Elected 1 


John McCauley, 


•' 1795. 


M. H. Belknap, 




" 1841 


George Betts, 


" IS Hi. 


M. C Belknap, . 




" 1855 



No complete list of Deacons can be made. The Sessional Records of the early 
years show that occasionally some of the Elders were chosen to perform the duties 
of the 1 (iaconate. For long periods there is no especial mention of the election of 
Deacons. 

Since the year 1S74 there have been orderly chosen by the Church and solemnly 
set apart to this office the following : 

Martin L. Lee, H. W. Siglar. William C. Belknap, 

R. Howell, Chas. St. J. Vail, John C. Hasbrouek. 

The present membership of the Church is five hundred and twenty-eight. 



Thursday, November 13/7;, 1884. 
2:30 P.M.. 



ANTHEM. 



The Rev. J. O. Denniston, of Newburgh, read the Ninetieth Psalm. 
After which the Rev. Dr. Irving Magp.e, of Ronrlout, led the congre- 
gation in prayer, as follows : 

O Ood, Father of mankind. Creator, Benefactor: We come to The... Thou an 
enthroned in might, which is Thy presence; but Thou art likewise enthroned in 
love, which also is Thine. Thou dost rule the universe, but Thou dost also lo\ <• it. 
and Thou ilost love Thy children, which we who love Thee are. We bow before 
Thee. We acknowledge Thine infinite goodness: may we know Thy presence by 
Thy blessing. 



14 

We praise Thee for those mercies which are over all the worksof Thy hands, but 
especially do we thank Thee for that unspeakable mystery of love which has 
wrought the redemption of the world through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Praise be unto Thee, O Father of an infinite majesty, that when darkness cov- 
ered the earth Thou didst mercifully look with compassion upon Thy lost chil- 
dren and didst prove Thy love by sending unto them the Light of the World that 
they might see the way that leadeth unto eternal life. Praise be unto Thee that 
through His mediation and Gospel, pardon and rest and everlasting blessedness are 
offered unto the sinful and the lost, and that, all who will come unto Thee shall 
find rest unto their souls. Praise be unto Thee, that according to Thy gracious 
purpose, Thou didst establish Thy Church in the world to keep, protect and pro- 
claim Thy words of Life, that it might be as manna to the hungry souls that wander 
in the deserts of the world, and, being weary, seek for rest ; and, that whosoever 
may eat thereof shall be satisfied. Praise be unto Thee for that divine grace, which 
is the hope of the world, and which is Riven so freely that none who trust in the 
sweet promises of Thy Gospel shall ever be lost. Oh ! who can express the great- 
ness of Thy compassion, or worthily thank Thee for our redemption and happiness ! 

We bless Thy name that it pleased Thee to establish this church, which has 
stood as a light and blessing, in the midst of the generations that have existed here 
for so many years. We thank Thee for its long and beautiful history, for its life, 
and acts of beneficence, and all its good works, which give us such a sure hope of 
a long and blessed career of usefulness in the years to come. 

We thank Thee for the lives of the Rood men and women that have adorned by 
their holy walk and conversation the practice of a pure religion ; who in the spirit 
of the gospel have knelt at this altar in the beauty of holiness ; v. ho walked in Thy 
fear while they lived and died in the peaceful hope of a blessed immortality. 

We thank Thee for the holy men, who, during the years that are past, stood in 
this consecrated place to proclaim the sweet gospel of Christ unto the sad and the 
sinful. We thank Thee for the heavenly consolations they were able to bring to 
those who were bereaved of their earthly love and were broken in heart ; that thej 
were able to lead the weary to repose in Thy bosom and find rest. O good, faith- 
ful Shepherd of the sheep : We thank Thee that through them the sinful and 
the wandering found their way back to Chrisi and forgiveness, and that the deso- 
late found hope. We thank Thee for the sweet influence of their lives which still 
lingers in this place made sacred by their presence. Grant Thy blessing so that we 
who now live may gather into our lives the inspiration of their good deeds and 
beautiful example. 

Be pleased, O God of mercy, to add grace to grace. Help us to contemplate the 
e\ ent which we this day commemorate with those affections and holy desires which 
shall make the future to he as the past. Pour into our hearts that gratitude which 
shall prompt the most ardent devotion to Thy service and render our whole lives a 
continued act of thankfulness and love. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to be prseent with 
those who hereafter shall gather in this place to honor Thy great name, to preach 
Thy word, to utter Thy praise, and for the performance of all holy offices ; accept, 
O Lord, this service at" their hands, and bless it in that way which shall tend most 
toThv glory and the furtherance of their happiness, both temporal and spiritual, 
as shall be according to Thy will. Regard the supplication of Thy servants, and 
grant that whosoever shall' here be dedicated to Thee in holy baptism may so re- 
ceive the deeds of heavenly grace, that they may come safely to Thine everlasting 
Kingdom. 

Grant that whosoever shall receive in this place the blessed sacrament of the 
body and blood of Christ may receive all the benefits of His most precious suffer- 
ings' and death and be received into the blessed company of thine elect in heaven. 

Grant, Lord, that whensoever the sorrowful shall bow at this altar, they may 
receive heavenly consolations, that their souls may be healed by the balm which 
Thou alone cansl supply; and that they may rest from all their trouble in that 
eternal love which shall be unto them as heaven, because of the peace which Thou 
gives! . 

Grant that they who are fretted by the cares of the world may find the holy calm 

of the sanctuary sweet and refreshing unto them, being weary, and thus learn to 

know and rejoice in Thy helpful goodness. May those who arc broken by sorrow 
and look with tearful eyes into the unrestoring grave, be able to see an angel sit 
ting at the don- of the sepulchre who shall say : " He is not here, he is risen," and 
so be comforted. Let Thv hand, <> gentle Comforter, dry the mourner's tears. 
Graciously behold and' bless with Thv favor Thy servant whom Thou hast ap- 



15 

pointed at this time to minister at this altar. Speak unto Thy servant that he may 
receive into his soul from heaven those things which Thou will have him speak 
unto Thy people here; give him a wisdom that is more than his human understand- 
ing, that the gracious words of his lips may lie as the gospels of .Icsus unto these 
hearts. blessed Fountain of fresh and ever-living waters, pour forth Thy life 
through him whom Thou hast made life's channel to this people, that they, receiv 
ing his message, may live in Thee. () let not his burden be greater than he ran 
bear. Because of Thy presence may lie be sufficient for every duty and stn >ng for 
all burdens. Make him lovely bv Thy love. By Thy softening yet strengthening 
grace make him adequate to tin 1 needs of all hearts, and steadfast in all good. In 
those heavy hours, when he is ready to sink, reach forth Thy hand to him and sus- 
tain him with hope. When he shall want most what Thou alone canst give, give 
Thyself to him. Having Thee In- can never lie poor. And when at last his eyes 
shall grow dim, let the light of heaven shine into them that at evening time it may 
be light. 

Bless all the world, < > Lord, and hasten the day of Thy coining, that all the earth 
may rejoice in Thee. 

JSow make glad this hour. Come into this place of Thy love. Fill these hearts 
with gladness and peace. Accept the praises that shall arise unto Thee. O Light 
of the sanctuary, till this place 1 with the beauty of Thy presence, and abide here as 
its glory forever more. Through Jesus < 'hrist, our Lord. Amen. 

After this fervent prayer the congregation united with the choir in 
singing the 3Gth Hymn, " Great is the Lord our God." 

The Pastor then delivered the following Address of Welcome: 

Brethren and Friends : It is with great personal satisfaction that I am privi- 
leged, as the pastor of this I Jhurch, to extend to you all its welcome upon the , icca 
sion of this, its Centennial Anniversary. 

It is an occasion for joy : it is a jubilee, our hearts throbbing with devout grat- 
itude to God for all His goodness and grace, and our lips showing forth His praise. 
In our joy and in our grateful praise, we desire that you. Ministers of Christ 
and Christian friends, should unite with us. While in a certain sense the history 
of any Church is its own, in another and very significant sense it belongs 
to the community, where its life is lived and where its influence is especially 
and constantly operative. We are all partakers in one way and another of 
the good that flows out from these centres of religious power and activity. 
We cannot bound and limit these streams of blessing that have their sources 
in these Churches of Christ by any parochial lines. Anil today as we in- 
vite you to look at this single stream that had its rise a hundred years ago in these 
hills, it is with the assured feeling that you will rejoice with us that its flowing has 
been continuous for so many years, and' that its full and overflowing waters have 
given such moral and spiritual health to the people. 

On the 12th day of August, 17^4, a few disciples, who had been sustaining for 
nearly a score of years a religious society somewhat irregular in its ecclesiastical 
form, organized themselves into a Presbyterian Church according to the laws of 
the State. That date marks the beginning of the corporate existence of this 
Church. A hundred years of Church life ! 

But it is not solely in this fact of age that we to-day find our joy ami that I have 
such satisfaction in extending to you this welcome. The < 'hurch has made a most hon- 
orable record, of which it has a right to he proud. It has steadily upheld the truth 
as formulated in the doctrinal standards to which it first gave adherence. It has 
proved itself loyal to the form and order of Church Government which it first es- 
poused. It began its life when Newburgh was only a hamlet. In its earlier period, 
though weak in numbers and in material resources, it bravely lived on in spite of the 
virulent attacks oi a strong infidel party in the community which was widely notor- 
ious for its bitter assaults upon Christianity and all its institutions. It grew with the 
nmunity's growth, doing nobly and efficiently its part in the moral and spiritual ed- 
ucation of the people. Peace and harmony to a remarkable degree have pei 
vaded this long life. That it has had but three pastors, the two deceased, whose 
characters and works will be set before us this afternoon by those who were per- 
sonally acquainted with them, and the third, the one who 'extends to you in its 
name its welcome, is a striking proof of the spirit of concord that has generally 
prevailed. 



16 

As these three pastorates do not cover the hundred years, a word of explanation 
is proper. In it earliest history it was served by stated supplies, who ministered 
also to the still older but likewise feeble Church in New Windsor. Only one minister 
was regularly installed over the two Churches previous to the settlement of the 
Rev. John Johnston. The Rev. Eleazer Burnet was ordained and installed 
pastor over them in November, 180"), but died at the expiration of the first year of 
his pastorate. 

As Mr. Johnston, or as he was afterwards and is to-day more familiarly known 
as "Father Johnston," or Dr. Johnston, was the first pastor the Church had exclu- 
sively for its own, it has regarded him as its first pastor. His pastorate termin- 
ating with death he was soon succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Sprole, my immediate 
predecessor. 

It is certainly a just cause of pride in the history of one's Church that its pas- 
torates have been of such long duration : that there has been such steadfast loyalty 
to those whom it has chosen for its spiritual teachers and guides. And we welcome 
you to rejoice with us to-day in the memories their names awaken. The continuous 
prosperity of this ( Jhurch is" identified with these faithful servants of God. who left 
their impress upon this Church life, who to a great degree were instrumental under 
God in moulding and shaping that life. 

We welcome vou, furthermore, to a participation in the joy that comes from 
the conviction that the unwritten history of the ( 'hurch is that after all which is 
its most imperishable value. The history of human hearts— of the inner, secret 
lives of those who have here confessed Christ and have consecrated themselves to 
His service; prayers that God has treasured in his book of remembrance; the 
spiritual conflicts out of which have come peace and strength; the comforts and 
consolations of the Gospel ; the calm resignations to the will of God ; the triumph- 
ant departures for the glory above ; how all this unwritten history is suggested to 
us as we think of those hundred years of Church life. There are a host who have 
to glory gone, whose benedictions are upon us to day; we seem to hear them bid- 
ding us rejoice, to keep high festival on this day of precious memories. They are 
the memories of a ('hurch life of which they formed a part and to whose spiritual 
force and material prosperity they contributed ; the memories of struggles in 
which they shared : the memories of prayers in which they joined. 

Friends, these voices from out the past tuat come to us from the skies are 
for your joy as well as for ours. For He, in whom they live, is our life and our 
salvation. 

It hits been our desire upon this centennial anniversary, as memorial words were 
to be spoken of these deceased pastors. Dr. Johnston and Or. Sprole, to place 
somewhere upon these walls a simple, unpretentious tablet that would be a reminder 
to those who are to come after us of the long service of these devoted Ministers of 
Christ. We had no desire to erect a tablet that from its elaborate design or expen- 
sive cost, or cunning workmanship would draw admiration to itself. Simplicity, 

durability, ban ty with its surroundings were the main things sought for. Such 

a tablet has ben placed upon these walls. It bears no fulsome inscriptions, no 
eulogistic words. If vou would seek lor the true monuments of these men, you 
will find it in the history of this Church, that celebrates its hundredth birthday. 

As the last words of the Address were uttered. Elder M. C. Belknap 
stepped forward and drew aside the red silk curtain that had veiled the 
tablet. For a few seconds silence was observed. The Rev. Dr. Hall 
then introduced the Reverend Dr. Prime, of New York, in the following 
words : 

Friends: The Committee did not require much time to consider whom the) 
should invite to give the Memorial Address upon the Rev. Dr. Johnston. There was 
one person who seemed to them especially adapted for this service; one who had a 

warm personal attachment lor Dr. Johnston, who sat lor some time under his min- 
istry and whoafterward was the pastor of a neighboring Church. Therefore, from 
his 'own personal knowledge of Dr. Johnston's character and work, anil out of a 
full treasury ■ •! pleasantand prized recollections, he will speak to us. I need 
hardly mention his name. It is in all Our Churches -The liev. Dr. S. I. Prime, of 
New York. 



17 

DR. PRI3IES ADDRESS. 

John Johnston was born in 1778, six years before the birth of this Church. His 
father was an intelligent farmer, who had been a school teacher. He lived in 
Montgomery, in Ulster now Orange County, New Xork. The lad worked on the 
farm, and when he was fourteen years old and had been employed awhile in a 
store, he decided, with his father's approbation, to get an education. He was pre- 
pared to enter college when his father died. This s a d event crushed his hopes, but 
ins mother was equal to the occasion, and resolved to accomplish the work. Prom 
the herd on the farm she selected some cattle, and the student boy with a drover 
to aid him, set oil through the country to sell them, forinoney to support him in 
college. They came to Newburgh, crossed the river, and going down into West- 
chester County, disposed of the cattle. 

He lodged at Yorktown. and waking early he heard two boys in a bed near him 
discussing the great question, " Can God sue us in the dark?" That conversation 
led him to serious reflections that shaped his course in lite.* 

Returning home, with his money, he was soon on his way to Princeton and an 
education. This was in October, 1799. 

George Washington died He-ember i:',th. 1799, only a few weeks after this youth 
entered college. The President of Hit liege delivered a funeral oration at Tren- 
ton; and the young man walked ten miles to hear it, stood up in the crowd three 
hours ami walked ten miles back, having had nothing to eat during the day. \et 
it was no small part of a young man's education to hear a funeral sermon on the 
death of George Washington. Heaven send us another Washington, and to God 
shall be the glory. 

He completed his course with honor, and was afterwards elected tutor in the 
college, performing the duties of that office so as to secure the respect of the offi- 
cers and students also. 

The voice of God, which he heard by the boys in Yorktown, continued to call 
him, and he desired to preach the everlasting Gospel. Beyond the Allegheny 
Mountains was a great divine whose fame as a, teacher of divinity had come over 
the hills to tin- college at Princeton. There was no School of Theology there at 
that time nor until ten years after. Coming back to Montgomery, to the home of 
his mother, the question of the Ministry was discussed in the councils of the family. 

A young lady in the neighborh I joined the council, for she was deeply interested 

in 'its decision She had already promised to he the wife of this ardent young man, 
and the question intimately concerned their future. Should he go away for a term 
of years, complete his studies, and then return to claim his bride, and with he' 
begin life's great work as a Minister of the Gospel ? Many elements of doubt am 
fear entered into that discussion. There were no public conveyances then like on 
steamboats and railroads. Pittsburg was farther off than London is now. Poy- 
ertv, illness, change of purpose, were all possible. Would time work no change in 
man or maiden? If they parted no w for three years would they be ever united to share 
the burdens and joys of wedded life ? They voted unanimously that he should go. 
Mounted on a little"horse, his whole wardrobe in the saddle bags under him, he 
rode down into New Jersey, through it to Pennsylvania, Lancaster, Columbia, 
Chambersburg, Bedford and Somerset, he crossed the mountains, a solitary trav- 
eler, was charmed with the magnificent views, with the hills and the Juniata val- 
ley, and received impressions of grandeur and loveliness that were fresh in his 
memory fifty years afterwards. At ( lanonsburg he found Dr. McMillan, the Apostle 
of the West' at whose feet he was to sit. Hut his course was more of practice than 
of study. His teacher was a great revival I 'readier and was continually called off 
to scenes of high religious interest, into which he plunged, taking all his students 
with him. At the end of a year and a half his money was exhausted, and he 
crossed the mountains again on horse-back, found employment as a teacher in 
Maryland, replenished his purse, went home after an absence of three years, found 
all right there and in the neighborhood, studied one year more at Princeton, and 
was licensed to preach the Gospel in October, 1803. 

The ( iiurch in Newburgh was at that time connected with one at New A\ indsor. 

He was called to the united charge. Having I n married to the woman he loved, 

he entered on his labors ami was ordained on the 5th of August, 1807. That Min- 
istry continued without interruption during the full term of his long and useful 



otK, 



• Many long years afterwards Dr. Johnston, attending Synod in New York City, dined with the Re\ I'i.I'" 
and a large party <if ministers and elders. At table l>r. J. related tin, in id. nt, and one of lli " 1 "as 

one of those ooys." 



18 

life. To pursue the history of his Ministry in the City of Newburgh (after New 
Windsor set up for itself) would be to rehearse the record of a pure, godly man, 
whose walk and conversation were without spot and blameless, and whose life was 
one long testimony to the power of simple goodness. He was the most like a good 
child of any educated man I ever saw. It was a blessedness of his that he found 
that patient girl in Montgomery waiting for him after so many years. She was a 
mother to him as well as a wife. He has said, playfully, at my table when pressed 
to take this or that, "My wife does not allow it." It was her prudence and energy 
that caused the barrel of meal and the cruet of oil to hold out, when, but for her, 
a miracle would have been required to feed him. Oliver Goldsmith had him to sit 
for his portrait, when he drew the picture of the village Pastor, who- "watched 
and wept, who prayed and felt for all." He rarely preached a sermon without 
weeping. But he was sincere. He felt all that he said, and when pleading with 
sinners to be reconciled to God and with saints to be more like the Saviour, tears 
would flow and his voice would break so that he could scarcely proceed with his 
discourse. This was not weakness, for he was not a weak man ; he had immense ener- 
gy, industry and endurance : he went about doing good, with vitality and persever- 
ance rarely equalled in the ministry. I have seen and heard him when he was greatly 
excited. It was in his own church when the great disruption took place at Synod 
in the year 1838. It was agreed that the Synod must be broken asunder, but how 
should it be done ? "I go," exclaimed Dr. Johnston, "with the men who are 
known as of my School. I cast my lot in with them, and let my right arm drop 
from my shoulder if I do not stand by them in this hour of peril." 

There was in Newburgh in old times an association of men who cherished the 
infidel sentiments of the French Revolution, and sought to propagate them on 
American soil. Dr. Johnston had their names in his note book, and he kept a re- 
cord of their lives and deaths. Both were miserable. Intemperance, suicide, vio- 
lence of some kind for the most part sent them out of the world ; few of them 
died in peace in their beds. He did not repeat their names, for, thank God. it is 
not respectable to have infidel ancestors, and to perpetuate the memory of the 
dead would pain the living. But he was wise in dealing with the worst of them, 
and the unbeliever, as truly as the Christian, had a place in his heart. 

To have walked forty-eight years in one community, identified with every public 
movement, standing up bravely against iniquity in high places and low, his counsel 
sought for continually, and his opinion and advice being freely and honestly given, 
and to have borne himself under all circumstances, religious and secular, above re- 
proach or suspicion, isan achievement which the grace of God and his own good sense 
enabled him to accomplish. He could say with Paul, " I have fought a good fight," 
and there was never a man in Newburgh or elsewnere, who could take away his 
crown of a good name. He was a friend of my vouth, and my father's friend, and 
I count it no light privilege after both of them "have been dead for these many 
years, to take a part in these expressions of esteem for the memory of him who 
being dead yet speaketh. Long ago, when he first entered within the vail, a white 
6tone was given to him with a new name written thereon. To-day we set up in this 
holy place a white stone, with his name inscribed upon it. Long ago he expressed 
astonishment that he who once kept his father's sheep, was raised up to be a 
Shepherd of the flock of God. to rank with illustrious men in the government of 
the Church, and its institutions of learning. Now he sits with the greatest and 
best of all past ages, and with Jesus the Mediator, whose church he loved and 
served so long and well. We set up this stone to tell the generations who come 
after us what a noble, blessed, faithful Pastor fed this flock through the first half of 
the nineteenth century, that they may hold in honor perpetual the name of Dr. 
John Johnston. 

The Kev. Dr. Hall : — Very soon after I first came to Newburgh, 
about twelve years ago, I was fortunate in making the acquaintance of 
the gentleman who was at that time chaplain at West Point. He seemed 
to me to be a man iu the vigor of his prime. But with the closer and 
more intimate acquaintance the years have brought, he has been grow- 
ing younger to my thought. I am sure that if the good Lord should 
spare him to us for twenty years more it will even then be said of him, 
"fresh to the end." He is among us, on his own native heath, to-day, 



19 

and we are all confident that what our esteemed friend does not know 
about the early Ministers, and early religious life of Newburgh is not 
worth knowing. The Rev. Dr. Forsyth will now address us. 

DR. FORSYTH'S ADDRESS. 

My dear Friends: I find myself as it were sandwiched between my dear friend 
Dr. Prime, to whose admirable Memorial we have just listened, and my other dear 
friend. Judge Panoher, i.e. between the Gospel and the Law. 

A few days ago I was a«ked by one of our editors for my manuscript. I re- 
plied that I "would cheerfully give it if I had such a thing about me ; but that I 
could not know what I might have to say until I had heard Dr. Prime. All that I 
could do would be to gather up the crumbs which Dr. Prime might leave, if indeed 
he left any. The same day Dr. Hall showed me the programme, and when I asked 
him what was to be the theme or text of my address, he said, "you can talk about 
anything." That was certainly a very large liberty ; but it would be cruel to you 
if I availed myself of it. You would not wish me to give you a sermon under the 
guise of an address, especially as we are to have one this evening by my old friend 
and former colleague in Rutger's College, and which, I am sure, will be one of the 
best, and so I must take up the theme which, at this last moment, Dr. Hall has 
given me, and deal with it as best I may — "Reminiscences." 

As a born Newburgher, I am sure that my memory of Dr. Johnston goes farther 
back than any of my clerical brethren near me. I fancy that even Dr. Prime 
never saw him until after he had experienced a remarkable change in his personal 
appearance. My earliest remembrance is that of a most venerable man as bald as 
Dr. Prime himself, while the few remaining hairs were as white as the driven snow. 
Suddenly, while he and Mrs. Johnston were on a visit to New York, his head be- 
came covered with a thick crop of hair as brown and beautiful as those of my 
friend behind me, the present Pastor of this chinch. And they retained their 
color to his dying day. The story goes that on the evening of that day Mr. and 
Mrs. J. were at a little party in the house of a friend. The host asked Mrs. J. if 
Mr. J. had come. She looked around the company, and replied, "No, I don't see 
him," though he was sitting within a few feet of her. I have often wished that a 
portrait had been taken of him before this change occurred. 

Here I must say a few words in regard to Mrs. Johnston— one of the grandest 
and noblest Christian women that ever lived in Newburgh. She was indeed a 
helpmeet for her husband — remarkable for her " large, sound roundabout " < hris- 
tian "sense." Dr. Johnston was, as Dr. Prime has told us, singularly emotional by 
nature. I think that I never heard him preach without his bedewing his sermon 
with his tears. Mrs. Johnston was remarkable for her calm, self-poised, energetic 
readiness for every good word and work. To homes visited by sickness or sorrow, 
or want she was quick to go, by day or by night, on a mission of sympathy, nurs- 
ing or help, as the case might be. Hundreds of families— many of them not be- 
longing to this church — could rise up and call her blessed. She was one of the 
founders of the Dorcas Society, now nearly seventy-live years old. She was one of 
the founders and teachers in the first and, for a long time, the only Sunday School 
in Newburgh. It met in the old church, as a sort of Union School, and so con- 
tinued until the interior and the exterior of the church were changed into the form 
which many of you will remember ; when the Presbyterian and the Associate Re- 
formed Church each set up a Sunday School of its own. Originally the pulpit 
stood in the north end of the church. It was neither a mere platform nor a desk, 
but — though irreverently called a tub— it was a true churchly pulpit, with a beau- 
tiful canopy over it, which was surmounted by a dove with an olive branch in its 
mouth. 

Had Mrs. Johnston lived in Macedonia in apostolic times, I am sure that she 
would have taken her place among those concerning whom St. Paul wrote — "help 
those women who labored with me in the Gospel,"— whose names are in the Book 
of Life. And I am equally sure that if the present generation knew how much this 
noble woman did for this Church during the many years of her husband's pastor- 
ate, there would be another tablet beside the onejust unveiled, to the memory of 
Mrs. Mary Johnston. Now, when Christian women are so largely " coming to the 
front," to use a military phrase, in all kinds of Christian work, 1 wish that then- 
might be such a tablet, not merely to preserve the memory of a " mother in Israel," 



20 

but also to serve as a stimulus to the ladies of this Church to follow her, as she 
followed Christ, in all good works. 

When Dr. Johnston first came to Newburgh, there were only two churches with 
pastors in the village — his own and the Associate Reformed. Our Methodist friends 
had indeed a small society. How small it was and continued to be for quite a num- 
ber of years may be inferred from the size of their first Meeting House, 32 feet by 
45, which stood in what used to be called the Old Town, at the corner of Liberty 
Street and Gidney Avenue. That little society has. as you know, grown into three 
noble and mighty bands. If some of the good old Methodists of a hundred, or even 
seventy-five years ago could rise from their graves, and walk down Liberty Street 
until they came to Trinity Church, the venerable mother of the other two, I fancy 
that they would be utterly astonished when told that this is a Methodist Chinch, that 
the little seed that they had long ago planted had grown into this magnificent tree 
of righteousness. We may be sure that when convinced of the fact, they would 
there in the street have shouted Hallelujah with old-fashioned Methodist vigor. 

The Associate Reformed church of that day stood between William and Ren- 
wick Streets, a little east of Grand, and quite out of town. Those who attended it 
must have been very "zealously affected" towards their own faith and forms of 
worship, when they were content to trudge there in summer's heat and winter's 
cold, through dust, and mud, and snow. At one time they had as their pastor, a 
young and very popular preacher, who, by the way, was called from here to the 
First Presbyterian Church of Albany. They naturally were counting a good deal 
on the eloquence of their young minister as a means of growth. Some one was 
one day telling a very prominent merchant of the village, who probably looked at 
everything within as well as as without from a business point of view, about this 
popular minister. "O, yes," said the merchant, "Mr. Stansbury is an eloquent 
man, but Mr. Johnston has the best stand." So he had, for it was in the heart of 
the village. In due time the Associate Reformed people, becoming convinced that 
their " stand " was a very poor one, left it and built the church at the corner of 
Grand and First Streets, in 1821-22, the first minister in which was the late Rev. Dr. 
McCarrell, and also their parsonage — the only one for many years in Newburgh, 
but which every church should have, at the corner of Liberty and First Street. 
Meanwhile, in 1819, that saintly veteran, the Rev. Dr. John Brown, whom only a few 
weeks ago devout men of various denominations "carried to his burial." in the 
almost 70th year of his ministry, but was then the young Rector of St. George's, 
by his own untiring energy had erected the church at the corner of Second and 
Grand Streets. And thus was formed an ecclesiastical right angled triangle, at the 
several angles of which stood the Presbyterian, the Episcopal and the Associate Re- 
fornied churches, the like of which I fancy, could not be found in any other town 
in the United States. At one angle stood the Presbvterian Church; at another the 
Episcopal ; at the third the Associate Reformed. When Dr. Johnston died he had 
been Pastor of this church fifty years. Dr. Brown had then been Rector of SI. 
George's forty years; and Dr. McCarrell Minister of the Associate Reformed a lit 
tie over thirty years. And these were their first and only charges. These three 
men differed physically, intellectually, in their literary and scientific tastes, as well 
as in regard to church polity and forms of worship; but they were one in their de- 
votion to their common Lord, and in zeal for the salvation of men. They never 
exchanged pulpits ; never sat together at the same communion table, but they 
were bound together by the closest and warmest friendship not only never broken, 
but never even for a moment disturbed during the many years they labored side 
by side, each in his own sphere and among his own people 

I know that I must put an arrest upon memory, considering the many voices to 
which you are to listen after mine ; but I must say a word in regard to one other 
minister who began his labors only a year or two after Dr. Drown. I refer to Dr. 
James R. Wilson, the first Pastor of tile Reformed Presbyterian Church, to which 
my dear friend, the Rev. Dr. Carlisle, has so successfully ministered during the last 
thirty-six years. Dr. Wilson was truly a man of genius, of imposing presence, of 
varied accomplishments, and one of the most brilliant Preachers that have ever 
occupied a Newburgh pulpit. It has been my good fortune to hear many of the 
most distinguished pulpit orators, Catholic and Protestant, in our own country, 
in Britain, Prance, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy. I never heard one who 
could more completely keep and rivet the attention of his audience than Dr. 
James R, Wilson when in his prime. You may judge of his power in this re- 
gard, when I tell you that mere child as 1 then was, he could keep me wide awake 
at an evening Ben ice during a sermon of an hour's length. 



21 

"The fathers, where are they ? and the Prophets, <k> they live forever?" None 
of us can doubt where the Fathers of whom 1 have spoken are. They have joined 
the church above. Whatever differences separated them on earth, they have 
utterly disappeared. They are now joining in the one song and service to the 
Lamb. 

I )ear friends, let us "remember those who have spoken " to us or to our fathers 
and mothers, the word of God, whose faith let us follow, considering the end of 
their conversations Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever." " And 
now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus 
Christ through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every 
good work, to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, 
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.'' 

After tlio singing of a hymn, the Rev. Dr. Hall remarked : I am glad 
to have in this pulpit upon this occasion a Christian layman, and I am 
glad, too, that ho is a Methodist, so that we may hear not only from the 
pews but from the representative of another denomination, with what 
pleasure and profit the ministrations of the late Rev. Dr. Sprole were 
received. There is no one known to me better qualified to speak of 
him upon this occasion, both from choice memories of a warm friend- 
ship, and from a just appreciation of his excellencies and abilities, than 
our friend Judge Fancher, of New York. Out of a full heart he will 
now address us : 

JUDGE FANCHER'S ADDRESS. 

It is my privilege on this occasion to make a few remarks relative to one who 
was my intimate friend, who, for well nigh a score of years was the beloved pastor 
of this Church; who was chiefly instrumental in causing to be reared the walls of 
this beautiful edifice, and who, after a useful life of service in the cause of Christ, 
has been joined to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are 
written in heaven. 

I formed his acquaintance when he had lately passed through a grievous ex- 
perience, but doubtless that experience was a, trial that served to devote him more 
exclusively to his great work of a Christian Minister. 

He had been deprived of his position as a Professor and < Ihaplain in the military 
academy at West Point; and when he applied to the Federal authorities to be in- 
formed of the cause of his removal, he received neither an explanation nor the 
civility to which he was entitled. A brief sentence explains it all: Jefferson Davis 
was at that time Secretary of War. 

Turning then to that sacred work to which he was called, ami for which he was 
so well lifted, Doctor Sprole immediately entered upon his Ministry to this congre- 
gation of the First Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, with a (-Hastened spirit, a 
fervent zeal, and the precious qualification he had received from above — a quali- 
fication that was like a baptism of lire. With what zealous ardor he then 
preached ! It was a tide without an ebb. 

He seemed at that junction to have reached the fullness of his manly strength. 
He was in the prime of life, and Nature had endowed him with her choicest gifts. 
His every energy was thenceforth consecrated to the furtherance of the glorious 
Gospel of tie- Blessed God which was committed to his trust. 

His stately form, his engaging address, his voice of singular cadency, his 
eloquent words, his fervent spirit, all conspired to charm his hearers, to make his 
Ministry powerful, and to touch with a deepening interest his every successive dis- 
course. 

The experiences of the pas! had, in their measure, equipped him for his loved 
employ; and his full and earnest soul was all engaged to proclaim those great 
truths— the sweetest and the most awful that man may ever utter or man may ever 
hear comprised in the Gospel he was commissioned to declare. His enthusiasm 
seldom lost its splendid passion. 

It may be thought he did not always preach as he did at that epoch of his life. 
It would be surprising if he did. Towering flames will at intervals subside. But 



22 

there were ever to be noted in his pulpit efforts a scriptural orthodoxy, a scholarly 
accuracy, and a dignified manner; while ever and anon his impassioned eloquence 
breathed the flame of enthusiasm into his words so that errand truths were con- 
spicuously depicted and made replendent in his discourse. Stars and crescent 
never so gorgeously embossed a shield. It was with a ready facility that he made 
his way to the fountain depths of truth, and drew from thence pure and refreshing 
thoughts; and often as his discourse proceeded, there was lent to his cheek a 
livelier red, to his voice a deeper earnestness, and to his appeals a spirit-moving 
influence, till hearts were throbbing beneath the power of the Gospel thus pro- 
claimed. 

To one key-note was the harp of this enchantment strung. It was found in 
themes suggested by texts like this: " For God sent not his Son into the world to 
condemn the world, but that the world throngh him might be saved." 

To some of us addicted to Armenian tendencies of belief, there has seemed 
sometimes to be a complexity and want of ethereal fire in discourses touching some 
of the doctrines inculcated by the Westminster Assembly of Divines. But, strange 
as it may be, the discourses of Dr. Sprole were, not infrequently, tinctured with a 
strong infusion of those doctrines, and yet there was in them no complexity or dry- 
ness. The waters of a Mediterranean flowed over the Sahara, and the seeming 
desert was changed into a garden! 

He was never afraid to utter his sentiments, and whenever he declared them, no 
explication of his principles, beyond his own words, was needful. Alexander Hen- 
derson himself, who it is said wrote the Westminster Confession, might have ap- 
proved their perspicuity and orthodoxy. 

Prominent as he was in the great denomination to which he was attached, his 
distinctive creed was as conspicuous as his stately form. He was not the less 
esteemed anywhere for his denominational loyalty, yet whenever he had chosen a 
theme connected with some generally received doctrine of the Gospel, then it was 
that he preached his grandest sermons and displayed the conspicuous qualities of 
a great preacher. 

As an illustration I will refer to an occasion when he was unexpectedly called 
upon to occupy a prominent Methodist pulpit in the city of New York. He turned 
to a friend and asked, "On what shall I preach?" The reply was, "The central 
theme of the gospel." "Very well," said he; and, ascending the pulpit, he 
preached from the text, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believetfi in Him should not 
perish, but have Eternal Life." 

He wielded a masterly power of description, and in the prefatory portion of 
that sermon one seemed to see the stricken, dying Israelite, straining his death- 
dimmed eye toward the only object of hope, and then, as he looked, suddenly re- 
joicing in his new-found life. But as the speaker proceeded to the portion of the 
sermon where the central doctrine of the Christian faith became the theme, then, 
O then, what majesty was in his mien — what triumphant vigor was in his utterance 
— what revelation was made of the grandest truth ever proclaimed by man— and 
how eloquently he discoursed concerning the atonement of Christ and that faith 
which is the condition of the great salvation. The preacher's eye was, at times, 
swimming in tears— his strong frame seemed to quiver with the emotions of the 
soul, while the hushed and listening auditors hung with delight upon his impas- 
sioned utterances. A brother minister who heard him preach from the same text 
said: " I shall never forget that sermon. Its influence is upon me as I write." 

The sermons of Dr. Sprole were often masterpieces of impressive composition, 
and yet he never outspread a banquet for vain effect. His profound belief in the 
truths that he enunciated plainly went along with his words and gave them power. 
In the simplest phrase that human lips can try, he uttered the most momentous 
truths concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and, as with a winnowing 
fan, he gathered up the good seed, and drifted the chaff away. 

Sometimes, as is known, a poet will sing a song in which all human hearts will 
join with him. So, as to some utterances of Dr. Sprole, they keep their silent 
melody in the delighted memory, charged, as Wordsworth said, " with peaceful 
admonitions for the heart." 

He was rich in stores of various knowledge, and was gifted with uncommon 
power of clear and forcible expression. He was deeply read in the standards of 
Christian doctrine, and had arrived at conclusions in theology that settled his be- 
lief on an immovable foundation; yet he was no sectarian bigot, but he readily 
conceded the merit of the opinions of others, so far as they comported with the 



23 

essentials of the Christian faith. What those essentials are he clearly discerned. 
No cloud obscured his spiritual landscape. 

His social sympathies and affections were strong, and there is no aspect of his 
character more charming than that in which he appeared in his family circle sur- 
rounded by wife and children, or when enframed with friends in social converse. 
One could choose him for a friend because he could give Rood counsel, could share 
in joys and sympathize in sorrow. Often his kindly-beaming face would be lighted 
with the smiles of genial friendliness. When such a friend falls by the shaft of 
death, how lonesome the world seems! 

His commanding personality had a charm of manner that contributed largely 
to his personal influence. But his distinguishing merit— let me emphasize — his dis 
tinguishing merit was his manifest love of the sacred truths he proclaimed, and the 
fidelity and power with which he exercised the functions of an able minister of the 
New Testament. 

One of his clerical brethren, well acquainted with him, said: " I recall his 
preaching with peculiar pleasure. It was sometimes so tender that my eyes were 
often filled with tears." Those who had opportunity to hear him can testify that 
he had studied the law of Christ so fully that his words seemed to reflect the great 
principle of love which is the essential spirit of the Gospel. 

One of his compeers in the ministry said: " I can never forget one Sabbath that 
I spent with him at West Point. He administered the Lord's Supper in the chapel. 
His address at the table was one of the best I ever heard." 

As he passed from the threshold of this edifice, to return no more, doubtless he 
devoutly presented to God his beloved flock and lifted a prayer that he might be 
succeeded in his pastorate by a worthy successor who should lead them in the 
green pastures beside the still waters; and, if his sainted spirit is permitted to come 
again into the assembly that worships here, it must be known to him how well his 
prayer has been answered. 

He has bequeathed to us the rich legacy of his precepts and example, and 
memories of him that are blessed, are recorded on the tablets of many hearts. 

To our limited vision the darkness of death and the grave has deepened over 
him, but to faith's clearer view his redeemed spirit has been borne by the angels to 
that bright realm where there is no darkness at all. 

His familiar voice that so often rang beneath these arches is forever hushed. 
We can hear it no more, save in the mournful halls of memory — like a harp 
touched by the night wind. Yet his example teaches us that no true work was 
ever wasted, no true life has ever failed! 

Let us make a record in remembrance to his memory! It will remind us of his 
fervid genius and his shining virtues; of the life-long labor of love that he per- 
formed; of his instrumentality in gathering an assembly of his beloved people 
within the walls of this enduring edifice; and it will discourse to us of him who was 
the faithful pastor, and whose name, as we believe, is inscribed on the lengthening 
roll of the blessed company of Heaven. 

Sic sat est vixissc— It is enough to have lived! Grander was it than to have been 
the victorious chieftain in many battles, or the gold-crowned inheritor of a kingly 
throne! 

The Rev. Dr. Hall:— In 1837 and 1838 the Presbyterian Church in 
America from causes which it is not needful for me now to specify, was 
divided into two branches called the Old School and the New School. 
The division of the New York Synod took place in the First Church, in 
Newburgh. After thirty years of separation, years of misunderstand- 
ings, and rivalries, a union was happily effected. In 1870 the union of 
the Old and New School Presbyteries of New York took place in the 
First Presbyterian Church of Newburgh. The Minister who was chosen 
to preach the sermon upon the occasion and was afterward chosen as 
the first Moderator of the United Presbytery, was Eev. Dr. Wheeler, of 
Poughkeepsie. It is eminently appropriate that he should be selected 
to bring to us the greetings of the North River Presbytery. He will 
now address us. 



24 

REMARKS OF THE REV. FRANCIS B. WHEELER, I>.I>. 

Fathers, Brethren and Friends: I deem myself fortunate in my presence here 
to-day. On an occasion that links itself with the far away of yesterday with Teach- 
ings into the far-away of to-morrow— fortunate in bringing Presbyterian greetings 
to this honored Church, so important and conspicuous in all her ecclesiastical rela- 
tions — where history is so inter linked with the Presbyterianism of the Hudson 
Valley, from New York to Albany — a loyal child of the Presbytery, and a fostering 
mother too— a pillar of strength and beauty both. A light upon the hill, seen afar, 
steady and sure in its shining, and ever a factor of power in all Christian activities. 
We greet her venerable in years and yet with eye not dimmed, and force not 
broken by the flow and friction of one hundred years. With all the changes that 
have swept the sky of human affairs, this Church has not moved from the granite 
foundations of a pure faith, nor failed in her loyalty to Jesus Christ. We greet the 
Church at this point of her march, as she tarries a little, to gather up the reminis- 
cences of the past, with devout recognition of mercies vouchsafed and strength 
imparted. One hundred years of service. 

Thank God for that. Sowing beside all waters, and reaping with full hand along 
the crowding and crowning years. Along the way what prayers have been lifted, 
what sacrifices have been made, what victories secured. 

I am glad we have fallen upon antiquity. Time was when we were told, on the 
other side of the Atlantic, with an almost sneer, " You have no history, you have 
built no monumental stones." We have grown away from that, and have bravely 
pushed our way up into events that hallow and make glorious our history. We 
now hold Centennials, marking that which gives color, richness and novelty to our 
humanity. We are growing old. And with age comes no debility, no decadence. 
Church and State with us. both have a history with breadth of strength and flush 
of beauty. We have our Century Stones, and to them bring sanctified and tri- 
umphant orations. Newburgh, sitting like a queen upon this beautiful bay, shad- 
owed by yonder mountains, has her share in them, Only one year ago, along her 
streets "was the the march of bannered host commemorating a national event which 
will ever constitute a bright setting in the crown of our glory. To-day she brings 
her thanksgivings to the shrine of this Church, honored of God in the past, and 
radiant with clustering hopes for days to come. 

The day is auspicious— we do well in being glad, and it is befitting that North 
River Presbytery should bring her greeting. 

Salutations on life and health of the Church— strong and lusty life— prosperity 
uninterrupted, A living Church to-day, though one hundred years lie behind her. 
It is a grand thing to live, to keep place and hold as years wax and wane. As your 
city sits by the river, and stretches the roots of her prosperity out into its living 
tides, so this Church, planted by the rivers of water, has not only brought forth 
her fruit in her season, but her leaf also has not withered. 

The river by which the fathers and mothers planted is the River of God. full of 
water, hence it is, that this cedar of Lebanon is full of sap— well planted, well 
nourished, well grown, the tree stands and flings its branches out into the sunshine 
of God's loving kindness. We greet you in that you are alive, and are so ready 

to do and suiter, if need be, in further servii f the Lord. You are alive, because 

of the spirit of the living creature is in all the wheels of your organization— the 
breath of God in the body of your existence. 

Greeting comes to vou'also, for the reason you have wrought so well, and ac- 
complished so much for the Master. You have not been idle, there has been work 
here, solid, redemptive, abiding. Witnessing for Christ ; holding the form of sound 
words— keeping the faith— harvesting of souls. What privilege and what honor, 
to live and stand for the Lord Christ, through the toss and whirl of a hundred 
years. The work of this < !hurch has not been in vain I tod has given it the impe- 
tus of His strength, and lifted it into the eternities of His glory. 

And our greeting is warm, generous, full of praise, because you have such fu- 
ture before you how grandly that future opens from this Mount of Communion— 
along the King's highway, into larger usefulness, and more abundant r. suits. As 
the river yonder comes from mountain springs, widening, deepening in its How, 
past green fields, and the hum of manifold industries, bearing on its affluent tides 
the wealth of a continent, so the stream of your Church life runs, its course not 
finished. On. still onward, in the channel of continued and ever fresh opportunity, 

till, through the gates of the morning, if shall murmur into the rest of everlasting 
seas. So, with the greeting 1 bring admonition to larger activities and higher con- 



25 

secration. As I sat listening to the story of those who have gone before you in the 
history of this Church, there seemed to me, here, other presences than those upon 
whom mortal eyes fell — a goodly host — those who had sown in tears -gathered in 
joy — the servants of the dear Lord. Your fathers, mothers, brethren, friends- 
why, the air was tremulous with their presence, and out of the witnessing cloud 
came voices of praise, encouragements and incentives to greater fidelity. 
Oh, hear ye them as they speak — 

" Though dead, they speak in reason's ear, 

And in example liv , 
Their laich and hop,-, and mighty deeds 
Still fresh instrui tion give." 

They vanish — are gone— their voice dies away in faint echoings. 

Then comes another, more majestic, anil loving, the dear Lord of your fathers, 
from whose heart has come into your veins the Life Everlasting Mis benedictions 
fall, and I hear Him say, "Holdfast till 1 come, and I will give thee a Crown of 
Life." 

O, brethren and friends beloved, with you I will make answering. O, Lord, our 
Christ, we will — till Thou shalt come, and these eyes shall see the King in His 
beauty. 

The Eev. Dr. Hall : — About four years ago Calvary Presbyterian 
Church of this city celebrated its twenty -fifth birth-day. Upon that 
happy occasion, an honored place was given to her mother, or rather to 
the one who represented her. In the prosperity of this daughter, no one 
rejoices more than this mother, and her prayer is that it may steadily 
continue and increase. There is a tradition that the mother was not very 
lavish in providing for her when she went forth from the old home to 
establish one of her own. But even if this lie true, she has i^iven ample 
proof of ability to take care of herself. The mother's benediction is 
upon her. Let it mingle with the greetings from the child. 

REV. J. SEARLE'S REMARKS. 

If it were regarded as blame-worthy in the daughter, twenty-eight years ago, to 
leave the old homestead in opposition to her mother's wishes, and begin house- 
keeping on her own aceount, there has been abundant evidence, in the cordial re- 
lations of later years, that the fault has been entirely condoned, and if there was 
ever a thought in the daughter's mind, that her mother might have dealt more 
generously in her outfitting, that too has been so far forgotten, that but for your 
own reference, it certainly should have had no mention here today. And now, 
without fear of a single frowning look, this daughter comes into this stately house, 
where she finds her mother's dwelling, far more luxuriously than in the old home 
from which she went out, and most heartily and sincerely extends her congratula- 
tions to her on this Centennial of her natal day. 

There is always something very sad and depressing in seeing our parents after 
the flesh grows old, because we cannot but associate with increasing years, failing 
strength and vigor; nor can we think of these, except as foretokens of that great 
change which shall remove them altogether from our sight, and put an end to all 
the precious joys of personal fellowship. 

But how different it is with a Church. God has provided, that when she has ful- 
filled, and still continues to fulfil her mission, by loyally holding up the standard of 
His truth before men, added years shall issue only in added vigor ami increasing 
opportunities of usefulness. 

We have read with intense interest, the history of this our mother Church, as 
set forth in the eloquent words of her beloved pastor, and as we have marked the 
gracious dealings of the Lord towards her, we have called to mind what is said of 
the procession of the ancient Spartans, when the old men with whitened locks, 
and bent forms and tottering footsteps, led the van, showing the scars they bad 

received in their country's service ami exclaiming, " We have 1 o brave." Then 

came the active warriors, in the prime of their manhood, and as they bared their 
brawny arms, ready for labor or for battle, they cried, " We are brave." And to 



26 

dispel all fears as to what might come to pass, when the old men should have 
passed on to join the great company of the dead, and the men of middle age should 
have grown old, or have been slain in battle, there followed the youths and the 
boys, who, as smiles of joyous anticipation lighted up their faces, said, " We will 
be brave, for we are Spartans." 

Brave and true were the fathers who a hundred years ago laid the foundations 
of a Church of Christ here; and amidst their struggles with poverty, and in 
the teeth of bitter opposition, maintained the ordinances which God had ordained 
for the enlightenment and salvation of men. 

We thank God that we have a share with you in the heritage of their blessed 
memories. 

We recognize, gratefully, the hand of God in raising up to take their places, as 
one by one, in answer to their Master's call to higher service, they have dropped 
out of rank, the band of consecrated men and women who still rally round the 
standard of the cross, and by the agency of the same gospel truths which were 
so precious to the fathers, seek to elevate, establish, comfort and save the souls of 
men. 

And we have not only a bright hope, but a confident assurance, based upon the 
Word, " Instead of the fathers shall be the children," that when the present gener- 
ation of Christian laborers shall have fallen asleep, there shall still be found brave 
and loyal souls to stand up for God and His truth, in this place. 

Our "heart's desire and prayer to God" for this Church is, that He will so abun- 
dantly endue you with the grace of His Holy Spirit, that "he that is feeble among 
you may be as David and the house of David, as God, as the Jehovah-Angel to go 
before them; " that your influence for good may be so perpetuated and multiplied 
that when another hundred years shall have completed their round, the Word of 
Life, the only unnickering light that has ever shone on the darkness of this world, 
may still be held forth here, that men, enlightened by its rays, may find their way 
to Christ. And at her next Centennial, may other daughters rise to call this mother 
blessed, and to bid her God-speed, as we do this day. 

The Rev. Dr. Hall : — We are not done with the feast of good things, 
though we have heard from those especially designated in the pro- 
gramme. There is more to follow. I have been casting my eye over the 
audience, in search of the Rev. Dr. Applegate. He promised me he 
would come and present the greetings of St. George's Church. We 
have heard from the Rev. Dr. Forsyth, of the friendly relations that ex- 
isted for about forty years between the Rev. Dr Brown, who so recently 
left us for the glory beyond, and the Rev. Dr. Johnston. It would have 
given us great pleasure to have heard from his successor to-day. I 
know that something unforeseen must have prevented him from being 
present.* 

We have heard from Dr. Forsyth about the famous historic Church 
triangle of Newburgh, and of the harmony and friendship between the 
pastors of these three churches, Dr. Johnston, Dr. Brown, and Dr. 
McCarrell. The triangle was broken by the removal of the home of the 
First Presbyteriad Church to this site. The harmony and friendship, 
however, that existed between the pastors of the Associate Reformed 
Church and this Church have been bequeathed to their successors. It 
will give us pleasure to hear a few words from the Rev. Mr. Macnaughtan, 
pastor of the Associate Reformed Church. 

REV. J. MACNAUGHTAN'S REMARKS. 

It is an unspeakable pleasure to nie, sir. in company with so many of my breth- 
ren, representing the churches of Newburgh, to bring greetings to you and your 
people on this joyous Centennial occasion. It is a matter for congratulation "that 

- A letter was afterward received from Rev. Dr. Applegate, expressing his regrets. He was suddenly called 
away from home. 



27 

through a century, so remarkable in its manifold developments in every direction, 
so prolific in great social, political, moral and religious revolutions and conflicts, 
this Church has fought the good fight and maintained the faith. The century 
through which your Church has lived is perhaps the most remarkable in the world's 
history, and cannot be far surpassed in the eonspicuousness and the importance of 
the great interests that have crowded its years, by any that are yet to come before 
the curtain shall fall and the great drama i if time shall be completed. That this 
Church has done its part, in the midst of the great events transpiring around it. is 
abundantly evident from the words that have been spoken here this afternoon, as 
well as by this noble temple which faithful hands have reared, and thestn >ng, hearty, 
vigorous, moral and spiritual life that here finds a home and an inspiration for 
itself. A Church that has breasted the waves of a century's conflicts and comes to 
its conclusion with the freshness, the enthusiasm and the enterprise which everything 
here — this noble gathering, this splendid adornment, the festive garments with 
which loving hands have added new beauty to this fair house of Cod, the words of 
welcome that have greeted us. warm and eloquent in the expresion of the devotion 
and zeal of this people to every good work, and of loyalty to Jesus ( 'hrist -indicates 
that its life has been builded upon numberless heroisms, nameless fidelities, and 
that the children are not unworthy of the sires from whom they derive their life. 

You, Sir, and your people are to lie congratulated that amid all the changes and 
vicissitudes of these past years, a record has been made that so grandly justifies this 
proud occasion. 

And we are glad to greet you also, because you have not left us out in your re- 
joicing, but have taken pains to link your life ami history with the history of the 
Churches throughout the city. You have in this Centennial occasion brought be- 
fore this community not only the splendid history of your own Church, and the 
noble fidelity of the brave men who have been her leaders, but, in connection 
therewith, the names of the men and the Churches who with your own have made 
Newburgh what it is to-day in its moral and religious life. You have thus made 
the occasion ours as well as yours. It is this fact that adds, if anything can, to the 
heartiness of the greeting which I bring to you from the Old Associate Reformed 
Church. These two Churches, which for so many years stood within sight of each 
other, with St. George's, are all children of the same time with common traditions, 
associations, memories, so that the story of one must tell in some measure the his- 
tory of them all. And your Centennial has reminded us of the magnitude of our 
obligation as citizens of this fair city to the three men whose names are unsepar 
ably connected with these three Churches. Clustering near each other as they did, 
they did but suggest the unity of heart and aim, the community of enthusiasm 
and devotion which each felt for Christ, the undivided consecration, in the 
midst of radical differences of thought, of creed and polity, which they were 
not the men to forget. These are the men whose hands <+od lias laid upon this 
community in benediction. And who, on this occasion even, of quickened interest 
and enkindled sentiment, will claim adequately to set forth our obligations to 
these faithful and departed ones? We have to thank you, of the First Church, for 
reviving this old history, and setting before us the old life, that has so much to do 
with all that is best in the character and life of this conservative community. 

But to me, Sir, and I doubt not, to you also, and I am sure that Dr. Applegate, 
if he had been able to be present with us. would have shared in the feeling, there 
has come a sense of grave responsibility, deeper than ever experienced, in regard 
to the trust committed to us. It is no small thing to have had such a spiritual an- 
cestry in the pulpits in which it is our privilege to preach the ( rospel. It is no small 
thing to be the successors of men so faithful, so useful, and so consecrated. And 
as I have sat here, and heard that old story told, 1 have felt oppressed as never 
before with the responsibilities of my offl :e, and have found a new motive to put 
behind my endeavors, in the hope of so working as to gain even the smallest claim 
to be remembered by those who shall come after with any smallest atom of the 
gratitude that has been poured out to-day to the memory of these fathers in 
Israel. 

And the thing that has impressed me in connection with the references that have 
been made to these men is this: That little has been said in regard to their attain- 
ments in the line of scholarship, or in regard to their intellectual endowments, 
their capacity as preachers, or any of the other things that are reckoned by many 
as constituting the chief elements of power in the preacher. It lias not been be- 
cause these men were deficient in these things that so little has been made of them. 
We know that they were all men richly endowed in these regards —men of no ordi- 



28 

nary attainments and intellectual force. And there can be no doubt that the 
strength of their piety was greatly enhanced by these things. But the fact that 
has impressed me in this unfolding of the moral history of these past years is this: 
almost all who have spoken in this place to-day have spoken only of the goodness 
and the consecration of the men who have been the leaders and the guides of this 
community. 

And I am profoundly impressed by this fact. It is to me a revelation and an 
inspiration. That which has told in these old ministries through a hundred years, 
must be in ours, if our work is to live; we are to be helpers of men, and builders of 
the Church of Christ. 0, let us make the aspiration and the prayer of our ministry 
be more hereafter than it has been before: — 

" More love, O Christ, to Thee, 
More love to Thee ! " 

And it is this out of which has come the fraternal relations of the Churches of 
Newburgh, the breadth, the catholicity of the Christian temper of this community. 
Not in the creeds antl confessions is the Church to rind its point of unity, but in its 
piety and consecration, in its devotion to Christ and its zeal to save and educate 
tin- souls of men. This Church, the other Churches of this city, found this to be true, 
and in their practice, and in the grand results that are before us here to-day in 
this place, we have the witness to its utility. Standing, then, on this ridge of time, 
with the ripe and tender memories of these years about us, let us take the standard 
that their saintly hands have borne through a century's conflict, and, forgetting 
our differences, let us hold it aloft, and so let us try to realize here below that 
unity that will be the crowning glory of the heavenly life. One in the love and 
service of Christ. 

The Eev. Dr. Hall : — A few miles west from Newburgh a colony settled 
in the early days, known as Covenanters, and they were the true scions, 
of the old stock. From the old Church in Coldenham have sprung the 
churches of that faith and order in this city. We have heard this after- 
noon of the remarkable pulpit power of one of its ministers, the Rev. Dr. 
Wilson. We have with us upon this occasion one of his successors, the 
Eev. Mr. Carlisle, who has the honor, now that Dr. Brown has left us, of 
having had the longest pastorate of any of us — thirty-five years. May 
many be added to it. Brother Carlisle, we shall be happy to hear from 
you. 

REMARKS OF THE REV. S. CARLISLE. 

The circumstances connected with our assemblage to-day are peculiar and inter- 
esting. It is not to commemorate some important discovery in the department of 
the arts or sciences, but the organization of this congregation in this city one cen- 
tury ago. 

The friends of Christ every where rejoice in the Church's enlargement, growth and 
prosperity. They know that while the members of a new organization are few, 
their material and financial resources inadequate, yet, still, their strength and use- 
fulness arc not dependent exclusively upon these things, but upon the presence 
and blessing of the Most High. Besides her mission (the preservation of the truth, 
the reformation of society, the evangelization of the world, the salvation of souls) 
is precious, to be accomplished not by political stratagem and policy, not by disci- 
plined legions of armed men in marshalled array, nor by external coercion, but by 
the preaching of the Gospel, accompanied by the Holy Spirit. 

Two circumstances have distinguished this century: Increased and active efforts 
in every department of the Christian Church, for the extension of the Redeemer's 
Kingdom at home and abroad, introduced with wars widespread and universal, but 
these were followed with the glorious triumph of the Prince of Peace. Second, the 
translation of the Scriptures Of the Old and New Testaments into many of the 
Languages of earth, together with their extensive dissemination, so that the world 
is practically leavened with the Word of God, and the indications are that the 
knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth. In both these objects this Church 
part icipated and shared. 

To commemorate departed worth, generous and noble deeds for Christ, is both 



29 

reasonable and scriptural. The Most High has stamped it with his approbation, 
by erecting a commemorative tablet in the Eleventh of Hebrews, on which are 
inscribed the names and transcendent excellencies of those of whom the world was 
not worthy, and in this spirit we have met to-day, to make mention of the names 
and acts of those who founded this Church, though they little thought that their 
efforts would be so successful, or that so many would assemble in this spacious 
house of worship, at the close of a century, to express gratification at what they 
did. 

It is sometimes said that the congregation moulds the pastor. However this may 
be, there is no doubt the pastor moulds the people, and that the prosperity, growth 
and enlargement of a Church is under God mainly owing to him. and we rejoice that 
this fact has been so prominently recognized in these services— that honor has been 
given to the former pastors of this Church and to the present pastor, for to them 
much honor is due. 

The dead require no such commemoration. The founders of this Church are gone; 
they have entered into rest, and are enjoying their reward; nor are they intended 
for them; still, the names of the righteous shoud be had in continual remembrance, 
and one generation should praise His works to another, and declare His mighty 
acts. They are profitable and beneficial to the living — stimulating them to greater 
activity and self-denial in the Redeemer's service. But it should never be forgotten 
that the best memorial, the noblest monument you can erect is the reception of 
those great fundamental principles for the propagation of which this church was 
founded ; such as salvation through the Cross— that the Scriptures of the Old and 
New Testaments are the word of God, the only rule of faith and morals— that it is 
the duty and privilege of every man to search these Scriptures for himself, and to 
receive and profess what they teach— and tuat the Lord Jesus Christ is the sole and 
exclusive Head of the Church. 

Like the Ark, the Church was early cast upon the floods. Upon it the winds have 
blown, the billows have raged, threatening its destruction, but the Church lives, 
and the well founded hopes and fond expectation is that she will live, and live for 
ever and ever, and that in process of time she will be guided to the haven of rest, 
where eternal peace and absolute security will be enjoyed. 

Accept my Christian salutations; assured that my earnest wish and prayer is 
that the success of the past may be an earnest and foretaste of that prosperity 
which will attend you in the present century. 

The Kev. Dr. Hall : — Fifty years ago next month the First Baptist 
Church of this city was organized. Previous to that time, however, there 
had been temporary organizations and spasmodic attempts to organize. 
But for fifty years it has had a continuous history. In its early beginnings 
it was very ambitious for an inordinate quantity of -water, Orange Lake 
being used for a baptistry. In recent years it has been satisfied with 
less water, and has been more ambitious for the extension and glory of 
the Kingdom, in the conversion of men. Brother Jones it will give us 
pleasure to hear a few words from you. 

REMARKS OF THE REV. ARTHUR JONES. 

Mi/ Brother : It is with deep gratitude as a Christian minister for God's blessing 
upon this people that I bring the hearty congratulations and Godspeed of the First 
Baptist ( 'hurch to its nearest neighbor. 

Upon one of my first visits to Newburgh there were fields of floating ice in the 
river, and the ferry boat, in order to secure an open passage steamed quite a dis- 
tance to the north. 1 was looking at the church spires and counting them. I saw 
two at the upper end of the town, but when, after a few moments of wandering, 
my eye returned, I could see only one. We had come to that portion of the river 
where both were in the same line of vision. The height of the one had been given 
to the other, and the breadth of base of the other had been given to the one— so 
perfectly did the color of the cut stone blend with the weather beaten cypress shin- 
gles. And the one spire I then saw was far better proportioned than either could 
claim to be, viewed separately. Well, it was tin optical illusion, and hardly worthy 
of mention here. But I take great comfort in thinking that here is a spiritual 



30 

point of view, (and who shall not say it is not the truest) from which these two 
churches are really one. No man believes in his denomination, its mission, more 
than I. We are two in views of doctrine; necessarily adhered to because honestly 
held. We are one in a common faith in the same crucified Lord. Let us never for- 
get that our unity is higher and stronger than our separation, by as much as Christ 
himself is greater than any doctrine. 

The Rev. Dr. Hall : — When the Second Presbyterian Church of New- 
burgh ceased to exist, its meeting house was sold to the Second Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, or as it is now called, St. John's M. E. Church. 
And there it has its home to-day, though the building has been much en- 
larged and improved to accommodate the needs of that prosperous and 
active congregation. But there is another fact of interest to offset this. 
We stand to-day by the cradle of Methodism. It was here, on the very 
site of this Church, and in close proximity to if not on the very spot 
where this pulpit stands, that Elnathan Foster, the Class-leader, gath- 
ered weekly around him in his home, the class from which grew the 
First Methodist Episcopal Church of Newburgh.* So, Brother North, 
you can feel quite at home here. And while your people are kind enough 
to preserve the old Church home of the extinct Second Presbyterian 
Church, we reciprocate by protecting the cradle of Newburgh Metho- 
dism with this edifice built over it and around it. 

We will now listen to the Rev. Mr. North, of St. John M. E. Church. 

REMARKS OF THE REV. C. R. NORTH. 

Dr. Hall has already given you the best points of my speech. Whilst the 
various members of your theological family have been claiming relationship 
to the First Presbyterian Church, as cousins, aunts, sisters, daughter, etc., I have 
been trying to decide what connection might be claimed by the Church which 
I am privileged to represent, and conclude that it must be a son-in-law. I 
have no doubt that among other excellent reasons for the good understanding be- 
tween the St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church and the First Presbyterian 
Church is the fact, that the son-in-law and mother-in-law keep house separately. 

It is not a little interesting to discover the evident uncertainty in the minds of 
the projectors of thtit first Second Presbyterian Church as to what would come of it. 
In his charge to the Elders at its organization l)r. Prime plainly shared their per- 
plexity when he queried in his text "By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small?" 

It was evidently foreordained from the beginning to be a Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Whether it was through the tough roots of your theology that the sap of 
that put e gospel, which has always run in the fibres of the Presbyterian Church, 
came into that Second Church, or whether drawn by the /ran* out of an atmo- 
sphere charged with the prevailing Arminianism, certain it is that when the Rev. 
Mr. Hill was deposed for inculcating a doctrine deemed heretical, and having to do 
with certain views about Christian perfection, the decree was seen to be working, 
and the first Second Presbyterian < 'hurch made way for Methodism. 

There are two ends to the history of the St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church. 
The one, confessedly, is a Presbyterian end, the other a Methodist end. And there 
are, in point of fact, two ends to its church edifice : the one a Presbyterian end, 
and the other a Methodist one And the North end is the Presbyterian one. [Dr. 
Hall "That is the end you occupy. Is it not V" "Yes; and it is the hardest 
end to fill: '] 

The truth is the currents of Presbyterian and Methodist history in this region 
have run close together. It was only two years after the organization of your So- 
ciety that Ezekiel Cooper established on tiiis very spot the first Methodist Class. 
During the years when your Society belonged to your Presbyterian New Windsor 

•The Rev. Dr. Crawford, Presiding Elder, has informed me that he was married in the parlor of Elnathan Fos- 
ter's house. He is, and ought to be, grateful to our Church for spreading such a beautiful canopy over a spot of 
such pleasant associations to him. 



31 

Circuit our Class formed a part of the Flanders Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. We both, you observe, started out with the circuit system. When you 
adopted the station system in 1810, and installed J)r. Johnston, our Society built the 
old brick meeting-house and likewise entered on a more independent career. And 
now, not claiming to be their delegated representative, but rather by your appoint- 
ment, I am here to bring to the First Presbyterian Church the greetings f the 
nearly two thousand communicants of the Methodist Episcopal churches of New- 
burgh. I am sure I represent them in assuring you of their joy in your century 
of prosperity, and in pledging their prayers for peace to you and a triumphant 
future. 

The scene here to-day is an inspiring one. It could not have been a hundred 
years ago. 

My brother of the Baptist Church has beautifully set forth the unity of our 
Evangelical Church. The coming together of streams into one great body of water, 
is often proof of some one strong stream with a high source. Such a stream from 
even a great fountain may divide in its course, but its waters come together at last. 
The waters of the Mississippi by devious channels, through an intricate delta, at 
last meet in the Gulf and so in the mightier sea. The Nile, by many channels with 
divided waters beyond its delta, is made one again in the midland sea. So with 
God's blessed truth. From its Eternal Source it has poured into the world ; run- 
ning in the divided channels of the denominations, its living waters are meeting in 
the very fulness which they have produced. One in their source and one in their 
confluence. Of this blessed truth, this union of greetings to the Frst Presbyterian 
Church to-day is a demonstration. 

The more one considers that text of Dr. Prime's, in which so many years ago he 
asks " By whom shall Jacob arise?'' I am satisfied of the confusion of his mind, 
for Jacob surely could not fairly have been in question before Isaac saw the light, 
and we are told that " Abraham was a, hundred years old when Isaac was born." 
One hundred years of Abrahamic life have been yours, — years of usefulness and of 
faith. May your century bring forth to you some grainier unfolding of your life ! 
In behalf of the denomination 1 represent 1 challenge you to a deeper consecration 
of life and energy until we mingle together in the eternal unity of Heaven ! 

The Key. Dn. Hall: — There is a Church that is more Presbyterian, both 
in its polity and in its doctrine, than the Presbyterian. It is from the 
Dutch Church that the father's derived the essential rjrinciples of Pres- 
byterianism. The Rev. Mr. Myers, pastor of the Dutch Church, or 
rather, of the American Reformed Church, of this city, will now say a 
few words to us. 

REMARKS OF THE REV. H. V. S. MEYERS. 

My dear Friends: I come to you to-day bearing congratulations and greetings 
of the oldest religious denomination in tlie State. 

You are marking your Centennial by these services. More than two and a half 
centuries ago the Dutch Church was formed in New York City. And in many 
localities all along this valley of the Hudson, these churches were established 
nearly two hundred years ago. But the Dutch skipped Newburgh, which was of 
course a great misfortune to the settlement, now a city. It is a matter of congrat- 
ulation that the Presbyterians came in to occupy the ground. But it is to the ad- 
vantage of this city that it is surrounded by Dutch churches throughout the coun- 
try regions. And if the Dutch Church had nothing to do with the establishment 
of Presbyterianism here, it has had much to do with its perpetuation. It has been 
remarked that the prosperity and continuance of this church have been caused by 
the strong infusion of Scotch blood. I venture to say that if this Church were 
canvassed, it would be found that there is far more Dutch than Scotch blood in it. 
From the surrounding churches the Dutch people drift into this city. We gladlj 
receive them and alter a while pass them along to the other churches. They do 
good service for us, and when we send them to others we do so with the hope that 
they may be as useful in their new relations. 

If there were a relationship nearer than sisterhood. I should claim it for my 
church to-day. I believe the utmost cordiality and good feeling has always existed 



32 

between this church and that of which I am pastor, and it will not be my fault if it 
does not continue. 

I bear to you our hearty good wishes. You have lived a hundred years—" May 
you live a thousand years and your shadow never grow less." 

The Rev. Dr. Hall : — There is yet another Church of the Presbyterian 
family in Newburgh, from whom we have not yet heard. And though 
the time allotted for this service has passed, we cannot be dismissed with- 
out hearing a brief word of greeting from the pastor of the United 
Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Mr. Pindley. 

REMARKS OF THE REV. J. G. D. FINDLEY. 

In bringing von the greetings of the United Presbyterian Church, I speak in 
behalf of one of the newest to the oldest of the Evangelical congregations of our 

city. 

We have not vet reached our Quarter Centennial; while you have rounoed out 
a full hundred years. We rejoice with you that these have been to you years of 
growth— growth in numbers and influence and in power for serving the Master- 
years of large Christian usefulness and years in which you have had so many evi- 
dences of the Spirit's blessing attending the preaching of the Divine Word. As 
you review the past and look out on the future, what reason you have to thank 
God and take courage ! How wonderfully God in His providence is widening the 
field for Christian work to you and to all his Churches ! It is our earnest wish that 
in the century to come you may attain a much larger growth and influence, 
abounding in every good work, and that you may be in the fullest sense as a 
church, a pillar and ground of Gospel truth. Reference has been made to the po- 
sition of this church and her then Pastors as Old School, in the memorable contro- 
versy of 18 18. Let me say that though I am speaking in behalf of one of the 
youngest of Newburgh's churches, I represent one of the most conservative 
branches of the Presbyterian family. A writer in New England some years ago, 
referring to three of these branches represented here to-day, spoke of them as 
the " Old School," the '■ Older School," and the " Oldest School." May not we of 
the different schools continue to be in most hearty accord— holding the unity of the 
Spirit, if not in the peculiar views of the "older" and "oldest," at least in stead- 
fast adherence to our common heritage of "Old School" theology— the doctrines 
of grace the scriptural Galvanism imbedded in our common Westminster Stand- 
ard's V Let us hold fast the form of sound words. 

I rejoice that all the Churches, sending in their greetings today have so much 
of Christian unity in the great central truths of the Gospel, held in common by us 
all,— Christ, His divinity and redemption by His blood. As my brother from the 
Baptisi l 'li inch has intimated, we are "all one in Christ." 

We will find in the centuries to come, as in the ages that are gone, that it is " the 
old, old story" that softens and converts the wayward and the lost. It is "Christ, 
and Him crucified" that will ever be the power of God unto salvation to all who 
believe. 

The Rev. Dr. Hall: — Friends: I promised that these services should not 
extend beyond half past five, and here it is a quarter of six. I notice 
that Dr. Crosby has a very anxious face, and In! is doubtless wondering 
if wo keep up this feast much longer, how he will be able to draw any 
to his that In; is to spread for us this evening. I desire exceedingly to 
call upon these Ministers of our city and of neighboring Churches, who 
have not yet addressed us. I am sure that they are all in a congratula- 
tory mood. And I am confident that their hearts are so turned toward 
us that they will be willing to furnish for the printed Report of these 
Exercises, the thoughts that they would now utter. We will have this 
understanding between its. 



33 

We will now unite in singing the original hymn on the programme, 
composed by the Rev. Dr. Wheeler, of Poughkeepsie. We will sing it 
to the time of " Lenox," after which the Rev. Dr. Crawford will dismiss 
us witli the Benediction. 



i. 

Our earthly years, O God, 
Are at thy sole command ; 

And paths by mortals trod, 
Are from Thy mighty hand. 

Our history, a passing dream, 

A mystery, and fitful gleam. 



And yet, O God supreme, 
Our years are not in vain . 

But richer than they seem, 
In solid, lasting gain. 

Along the years, we live for Thee. 

In joy and tears we build for Thee. 



III. 

One hundred years have fled 
Since here our fathers wrought ; 

And lo, their work not dead, 
For lives the Church they sought. 

Thy Church, O God, preserved by Thee, 

Thy work, O God, all praise to Thee. 

IV. 

What memories arise 

Prom out the misty past ; 
Glad visions greet our eyes, 

And sorrows shadows cast. 
O Christ, our King, thy love so great, 
We grateful sing and celebrate. 



Prom out the gate of years, 
Along the King's Highway, 

We march through stormy fears, 
To reach eternal day. 

Our watchword, Christ, Humanity 

The world for Christ, in loyalty ! 



In accordance with the mutual understanding referred to above, 
following salutations have been kindly sent to me. 



the 



FROM THE REV. F. B. SAVAGE, PASTOR OF THE UNION PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

OF THIS CITY. 

Dear Brother: I feel that it would be ungrateful on your part did you not 
remember on this occasion the land from whence ye sprung and the hole of the pit 
whence ye are digged. I come v.ith greetings from the " old stand," that has been 
mentioned as being highly approved of by one of our commercial brethren, and 
though our connection with the Presbyterian branch to which you belong is of 
more recent date, yet as possession is nine-tenths of the law. we claim a part in 
this Centennial. We own the land on which Dr. Johnston's Church stood, corner of 
Montgomery and First Streets, a lot soaked with the prayers of the saints and hal- 
lowed by the memories of one hundred years' services. \Ve took possession of the 
old white Church in February, 18")7, and by good work and steady preaching wore 
it out, so that a new one was built more glorious than the former house. The only 
thing we have of Dr. Johnston's memory is the old bell that rung out on the air of this 
hillside, summoning the worshippers to God's house, and ringing out the news of a 
salvation broad and universal. But, alas, even the old bell wore out in the good 
cause, for it not only rang for the services of the Sanctuary, but also for alarms of 
fire, not to mention Fourths of July and other occasions. But the bell is not lost 
or thrown away, but, fused again with the addition of more metal, rings out its 
greeting to you on this Centennial occasion. Union Church greets you on this joy- 
ful festival and marks your progress with joy and gladness, and wishes you noth- 
ing but the largest growth and prosperity iii the future. Ye are built upon the 
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief cor- 
ner-stone ; in whom all the building fitly Iraiued together, groweth unto an holy 
temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God 
through the.Spirit. 



34 

FROM THE REV. C. W. FRITTS, FASTOR OF THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, OF 

FISHKILL-ON-HUDSON. 

Brlovrd Brethren : It affords me great pleasure to extend to you my best con- 
gratulations as you celebrate to day tlic first century of your existence. To recall 
the piety, tlie deeds, the endurance, the rare worth of our ancestors is not only a 
dutv but privilege. 

The Hebrew people often rehearsed to their children the great events of their 
history. From generation to generation they handed down the story of the bond- 
age in Egypt, the flight, the Red Sea, the wilderness journey, the founding of the 
nation in Canaan. Their leaders, in order to deepen the impressions of the past, 
used various auxiliaries. Places were named, monuments and altars built, heaps 
of stones raised, the '" rod that budded" and the pot of manua were preserved, all 
to remind of the times of old and how the Lord had led them. 

As a Church yours has been a marked history. For five score years you have 
sown the good seed of the Kingdom besidethe waters of this majestic river, and the 
ha: vest has been thirty and sixty, and an hundred fold. 

Here consecrated and eloquent Pastors have declared the unsearchable richesof 
Christ; here devoted Elders have labored for the Master; here true and noble wo- 
men, a great company have wrought for the upbuilding of Zion. What multi- 
tudes have been converted here ! How many have been instructed, cheered, 
strengthened and comforted ! What a host have fallen asleep and have passed 
from earthly care and struggle to eternal rest ! 

The immortal poet Homer tells us that Piomede saw the gods in battle after 
Pallas Athene had blown the mist from before his eyes. 

To day you are dispelling the mists that have gathered about your history, and 
T am sure you have discerned much that is heroic and saintly. The characters, the 
services of the fathers, to recount these cannot but awaken giatitude, quicken 
piety and inspire zeal. Moabite soldiers once prevented a burial and the remains 
were hastily cast into the sepulcrhe of Elisha. And we read that " when the man 
was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his 
feet." 

Even so, contact with the sacred past of the providence and grace of God will 
be to you reviving and life-giving. 

May you ever cultivate the historic spirit, and then memory with mystic chains 
will bind together the bygone and the living present. 

I congratulate you. brethren, that for a century your Church has held and de- 
clared a pure faith. You have never abbreviated the creed, nor shortened the 
commandments. In your Bible there has not been one verse too much, nor one 
miracle too many. In every period of unbelief and scepticism you have contended 
"Earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." 

I congratulate you upon your harmony and prosperity. Having obtained help 
of God, you continue to this present time. From the side of Heaven and eternity 
there is nothing on earth so glorious as a Church of Christ where disciples are edi- 
fied and sinners are converted. 

I congratulate you upon your feeling of brotherhood and Christian fellowship 
manifested by including in your jubilee representatives of so many denominations 
of Christ's < Jhurch. 

The attitude of neighboring Churches in relation to one another as they battle 
against their common foes should be the same as that of the men of Israel under 
Joab toward their brethren under Abishai. 

"And he said, if the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me; but 
if the children of Amnion be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee." 

I thank God that more and more we are seeing eye to eye and face to face, liv- 
ing and laboring together in the "unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace." In 
the early chinch the tests of discipleship was: We know that we have passed from 
death unto life because we l« ve the brethren." 

And now, brethren beloved, for the future take as your watchword the motto of 
the ancient band of Uedeinptorists; "All for Thee, blessed Jesus, all for Thee." 
"God is able to make all gran- abound towards you; that you, always, having all 
Sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." 

In the' language of one of old, 1 say to you : "The Lord God of your fathers 
make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as He hath 
promised you." 



35 

FROM THE REV. J. R. THOMPSON, PASTOR OF THE SECOND REFORMED PRESBY- 
TERIAN CHURCH, OF THIS CITY. 

In behalf of the Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church, of which I have 
been Pastor for about twenty-eight years. I tender cordial greetings to the First 
Presbyterian Congregation of this city that is assembled here to-day, under most 
auspicious circumstances, to celebrate the Centennial of its existence. 

fn extending these fraternal salutations I assure you that they are not a cold 
and formal expression of common courtesy; but the sincere greetings of a Congre- 
gation in a sister branch of the great Presbyterian family that holds the same sys- 
tem of evangelical doctrine and form of Church government. Purified and fused 
in the furnace of persecution, the Presbyterians of Scotland and Great Britain, 
that were our honored ancestry, were one body about two hundred years ago; but 
unhappily after the Revolution that elevated King William to the throne ol England, 
in 1 G88 a family separation took place, and this once united church diverged into 
new lines, and consequently are to-day found as different tribes, yet, thanks 1 e to 
God, following the same Leader, and animated by the same spirit of Christian love 
that is the true bond of church union. 

" Though distinct as the billows yet one as the sea." 

This organic separation, we trust, is only temporary; for the signs of the times 
in the ecclesiastical world seem to indicate, as appears from the quadrennial meet- 
ings of the Presbyterian Council, a closer alliance, in the near future, when the 
scattered fragments of the broken Presbyterian body will, under the " Power from 
on high," be melted and moulded into one organic union, and shall approximate 
that desired consummation when they all shall "come in the unit, of faith and of the 
knowledge of the Son of Cod, unto a perfect man. unto the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ." 

A survey of the progress of Presbyterianism, during the hundred years of the 
existence of this Congregation, awakens within us the profoundest gratitude; is a 
pledge and prophesy of still greater achievements; and is well calculated to stimu- 
late to a closer union and more persistent efforts for the salvation of perishing 
souls, the enlargement of the Church ami the bringing of the nations into submis- 
sion to Christ, whom they shall "crown Lord of all." 

As brethren, then, united in the great fundamental doctrines of Christ's king- 
dom; laboring in the same inviting field; and eagerly seeking the same grand ends 
— the glory of <iod anil the salvation of sinners— we convey to you the assurances 
of our fraternal regards and expressions of our sincere desire for still greater success 
in carrying forward the glorious work of your Divine Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 
The Lord make His face shine upon thee, 
And be gracious unto thee: 
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, 
And give thee peace." 

FROM THE REV. C. C. MANZ, PASTOR OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THIS CITY. 

Brethren and friends, greeting: It gives me great pleasure to be present on such 
a memorable occasion. Those many years that have passed have been a great 
blessing to this First Presbyterian Congregation. Many an organization starts out 
with a large membership and has bright prospects, but soon it becomes gloomy, 
the membership gradually resign, and it remains nothing but a child. Now when 
we look back into the history of this Congregation, we notice the reverse. Its be- 
ginning was dependent on a few families; and helpless as an infant, it had to 
struggle to keep in existence, had to overcome that too often experienced— discour- 
agement, and grow in patience. Their faith in the Word of God, that He would be 
with them alway. gave them encouragement to fight against the spirit that wished 
to rob them of this precious word and the means of grace, and they have nobly 
fought this light of faith, as we see to-day, this grand structure, dedicated to the 
worship of the Triune God, filled to its utmost. The child congregation gradually 
grew and became a man. What a blessing this is for you, showered down upon 
you from year to year, and with what gratitude ought we to-day look up to (md | 
Our hearts are tilled with joy, and we have reasons to be thankful for (iod's kind- 



36 

nesses, which He has shown, permitting us to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary 
of this Congregation. Let this day be a day of great rejoicing and thanksgiving, 
and may every one take home to-day the lesson, which the Lord wishes to impress 
upon our hearts: " He that endureth to the end shall be saved," (Matt. 10: 22). 

May the Lord continually bestow His rich blessing upon this Congregation and 
its Pastor, and may they never forget the mercies of God, which He has so glor- 
iously shown during these many years; may every one give all glory, praise and 
honor to Him, who hath done such great things. Amen. 

FROM THE REV. WILLIAM H. DECKER, BISHOP OF THE A. M. E. ZION CHURCH — THE 
FOLLOWING REMINISCENCES OF DR. JOHNSTON. 

It was with my mother that I first went to hear Dr. Johnston preach. She was 
a member of the First Presbyterian Church about forty years. I united with the 
same Church, by letter, when I was about eighteen years of age, and continued in 
that connection until I gave my life to the A. M. E. Z. Church. 

Dr. Johnston was a kind pastor to my mother's family. His goodness ever went 
beyond his word. He preached my sister's funeral sermon when we laid her away 
for the Resurrection. He married me, and I have often gone to bear him preach 
on the Sabbath, when not engaged elsewhere myself in ministerial work. His ser- 
mons were a happy medium between the old and the new. He neither clung to 
the old nor inclined to the new. He would the best, and sought and followed it. 
I always regarded him as a man of strong mind, but of tender sensibilities. As a 
preacher, the force of his feelings often overcame the man, and then you beheld 
the saint. I entertained for him a deep feeling of veneration and regard, and was 
intimate with him until his change came — August 23d, 1855. 



EVENING SERVICES. 

The evening services were opened by a very effective rendering of an 
an anthem by the choir, after which the congregation united in singing 
the doxology, " Praise God from whom all blessings flow." The Rev. J. 
Macnaughtan invoked the Divine blessing : 

Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: To-night, with the Church of all 
the Ages, with those of the vanished past, who, under Thee, have builded this Zion, 
we unite in the ascription unto Thy name of riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing. Before Thee, the eternal, the unsearchable, the 
only wise Cod, we bow in adoring gratitude and thanksgiving, as we remember 
Thy great mercy and kindness to this people. And out of our praise come our 
prayers to Thee, invoking Thy favor and the continuance thereof to this Church 
and Congregation. The past has been Thine and Thy rich grace has flowed through 
all the years. Let the future. Thou God of our fathers, also be Thine, and may it 
be to us, and to those who shall come after, richer in its memorials of Thy faithful- 
ness and enduring love. We stand on the verge of this new time with this rejoic- 
ing Church, and our hearts are full of hope because the past is so full of Thee. 
" Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." And now, we pray Thee, make this time of 
rejoicing, this time of remembered mercies, of remembered consecrations, of re- 
membered fidelties, by Thy presence, and the power of Thy grace, a time of re-con- 
secration of this People to Thyself and Thy service. And may there flow out from 
it, into all our hearts, inspirations by which there shall be brought forth in all our 
bouIs a deeper love for Christ and His Church, and in all our lives a braver, truer 
service of our common Lord. And unto Thy Name shall be the praise. Ainen. 

He then read a part of the 8'Jth Psalm, after which the congregation 
united in singing the 1160th Hymn : 

** Glorious things of Tncc are spoken, 
Zion, city of our God." 



37 

The Rev. Dr. Hall then read for the Scripture Lesson the Third 
chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. 

The Kev. Jeremiah Searle, of Calvary Presbyterian Church, offered 
prayer. He thanked God for what He had been pleased to accomplish 
for the moral and religious elevation of this community, through the 
instrumentality of this Church, during the century of its life and labors; 
for what had been achieved in the sight of men, and could be plainly 
discerned by them, and for the record known only to God, which would 
be unrolled in the day of final accounting. A record of weakness made 
strong, of indifference aroused into anxious thoughtfuluess ; of sorrows 
lightened; of forgiveness sealed ; of hopes assured; of peace inbreathed 
into troubled hearts, through the ministration of the truth in this place. 
He asked that God would continue here a succession of faithful men 
and women to uphold the pure faith of the Gospel, that in all the gen- 
erations yet to come men might hear and accept the offer of eternal life 
through the Crucified. He plead for a blessing upon the Pastor and 
Officers of the Church ; for a spirit of entire consecration upon all its 
members, which should manifest itself in enlarged zeal in every depart- 
ment of Christian service ; and for the crown of success upon the labors 
of His servants here, that they might have the joy of .seeing many souls 
saved through their instrumentality ; and for the Preacher and the Word 
which he should at this time tiring to us in the Master's name ; that the 
Lord Christ might be honored, and the souls of all who hear be greatly 
helped and strengthened for life's duties. 

The 885th Hymn was sung by the congregation, " I Love Thy King- 
dom, Lord." 

The following Sermon was then preached by the Rev. Dr. Howard 
Crosby, of New York. 

DR. CROSBY'S SERMON. 

THE RELATION OF ANGELS TO THE CHURCH. 

"To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places 
might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." — Eph. iii. 10. 

The great mystery of God, of which the mysteries of Paganism were probably 
faint adumbrations derived from oral tradition and both expanded and perverted 
by human invention, was "God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of 
angels, preached unto the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory." In other words, it was the mystery of man's redemption from sin in its 
operative cause, the fact of which redemption has been announced from the begin- 
ning of sin's fearful course, and had been manifested in the triumphant faith of 
many a saved soul, but the construction of which had been but dimly prefigured 
in the types of the Mosaic Church and in the simpler forms of true worship which 
preceded. With these typical tokens we may well conjecture that there were oral 
teachings from a Divine source, which helped the early saints to form some vague 
outline of the coming Messiah. And from these we may believe that many of the 
mysteries of Egypt, India and Greece, in which we find some traits of the Messianic 
relations, had their truthful origin. 

The great mystery was completely opened, when the apostles of Christ pro- 
claimed His story to the ends of the earth and with it the end of an expectant and 
typical Church. 

The mystery, as defined by Paul, included six distinct features. The first was 
the incarnation, the Word made flesh, God become man ami dwelling among us. 
The second was the spiritual manifestations that accompanied the Messianic era 



38 

in the miracles of Jesus and his apostles, and charismata of the Apostolic Church. 
The third was the presence of angels to witness the wonderful scene. The fourth 
was the spread of the [rood news to all nations and the consequent extinguishment 
of a local or national Church. The fifth was the evidences of this universality of 
the Church in the faithful lives of Christians in tall parts of the world. And the 
sixth was in the ascension of the Messiah Himself at the close of His earthly career. 
The fourth and fifth features, naving reference to the spread of the Gospel and the 
faith of the Gentiles, were seen during our Saviour's life in their beginnings and 
are, therefore, not recorded out of place in the Pauline category. And it was these 
features which the Apostle sometimes speaks of as " the mystery," giving the name 
of the whole to two of its prominent parts. 

This mystery of redemption through the Son of God as Son of man is declared 
to be the wisdom of God carrying out His purposes of grace. And yet, preserving 
the allusion to the heathen mysteries, the Apostle declares that this wisdom is re- 
cognized only by the initiated. To the world's sages it was foolishness. As they 
could not read it in nature nor evolve it from consciousness, it was igncred or 
despised by them. Even the faint traces of it that survived in their mythologies 
they regarded as a mere picture painting to amuse the people, and what survived 
in their technical mysteries was but a priest's trick for power. "The world by wis- 
dom knew not God." It has always been so. The world's wisdom excludes faith, 
while faith only leads the soul into the wisdom of God. 

The Apostle designates the wisdom of God exhibited in Jesus Christ as " mani- 
fold," or more exactly " very variegated," where allusion is had, in the metaphor, 
to form and color. One of the instances of its variegation (if we may use so 
strange a phrase) is the joining of justice and mercy. When " mercy and truth are 
met together," there is a contrasted union that could only proceed from the wis- 
dom of God. Chat God could pardon a sinner on the ground of justice was a para- 
dox which no human wisdom could solve or accept. Another instance is in the 
union of God and man, so that it is one and not two, Grd belonging to the race so 
that the race might belong to God. The old myth made Apollo serve Admetus as 
a slave, but still he was never a man. He was a god all the while. The Word be- 
coming llesh could only be presented to human thought by the wisdom of God. 
Still another instance is in the idea of exaltation through suffering, the king of 
glory reaching his crown on a cross, penetrating to the loving heart of the Father 
through the fierce fires of his wrath. Do not such contrasted forms and colors in 
the Messianic story make it an exhibition of the many-colored or "variegated" 
wisdom of God? It was with respect to this marvellous movement of God, as con- 
nected historically with the rejection of the Jews and their final ingathering with 
the Gentiles, that the Apostle elsewhere bursts into this exclamation, " O the deptli9 
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God I" 

The history of man is its only true nexus in this m tnifestation of the Divine wir- 
dom. Without it, history consists of unsatisfactory annals, and the philosophy of 
history is a vain struggle after a harmonizing principle to underlie the disjointed 
facts. Without it the race is but a mob, crowding confusedly along the ages with- 
out method or aim. But in its light the divine hand is seen guiding all and gather- 
ing to itself the wavward and the lost, implanting the elements of order through 
the chaos, and tinting the darkness with the golden rays of hope. It has been the 
cardinal error of all human philosophies that they have failed to see the necessity 
of starting with God's Revelation, and have thus missed the only clue to the laby- 
rinth of anthropology. Where they should have looked upward for a leading light 
they have even shut out the divine'interference by an axiom of its impossibility, as 
if the Supreme Maker and Ruler were excluded from his creation, having neither 
power over it nor interest in it. As against all human philosophies, the believer 
follows the guidance of the highest reason in going to the God of all for his knowl 
edge, and listening to the voice of revelation as an expected interpreter of the dark 
ami mysterious universe around him. And it is in this appeal that he beholds the 
manifold wisdom of God as the key to unlock every difficulty and bring all things 
together into a comprehensive and comprehended unity. To him the Incarnate 
God is the centre of every scheme and theory, and from that centre he can contem- 
plate the fears and hopes, the good and evil, the losses and gains, the movements 
and destinies Of man with a clear perception of the harmony that exists amid all 
this apparently discordant material. 

Before the incarnation this key was not furnished, and faith in a future expla- 
nation was all that could content the inquiring thoughts of holy men of old. even 
when they spake as moved by the Holy Ghost, "searching what or what manner 



39 

of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified before- 
hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, unto whom it was 
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister; " these 
prophecies. " God having provided some better things for us, that they without us 
should not be made perfect " or be initiated into the great mystery of God. Now, 
it is just here that the question arises in the thoughtful mind: "Why was this 
manifestation so long delayed? Why did not Cain's bloody hand do the part of 
Caiaphas, and the incarnate Cod perform his wondrous act of humiliation at the 
very gate of Eden? Why was not the cross erected at the beginning of the long 
procession of our race, that all men from the first might have enjoyed the privilege, 
now accorded to us, of looking upon a historic, rather than a typic Christ? Wiry 
should scores and scores of generations have staggered through the gloom before 
the day-star arose and showed men the place of their feet?" The question is not 
an easy one to answer. The usual reply, that God wished to show man his lost 
condition by a long historic example of his wickedness, scarcely suffices. If this 
were all. then why should not the deluge have marked the boundary between the 
old and the new? The race had then had sixteen centuries of sin and misery, until 
the waves of judgment washed them all but one family away. Was it necessary to 
wait twenty-five centuries longer before the world could tee its own wickedness and 
need? Did those twenty-five centuries add anything to the deficiency of the six- 
teen previous centuries? 

These objections are at least as cood as the argument, and the original question 
comes back to us for solution. We are under no necessity to answer it at all. 
Faith will be perfectly satified to recognize the Ford's sovereign will, and there 
leave the perplexity, knowing that He is infinitely wise as well as infinitely good, 
and that we are not in the position of either critics or expounders of His purposes. 
But if we find an answer to the natural query in the revealed Word of Cod, then 
assuredly we are entitled to the benefit of its illumination, and must by it gain a 
fuller view of the work of Cod's redeeming love. 

Our text, we think, suggests a solution. We are told by another apostle (I Peter: 
1, 12) that the angels of heaven take the profoundest interest in the marvels of re- 
demption; and it has been generally held that the turning of the faces of the cheru- 
bim toward the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant was a significant token of 
this assured fact. The prophet Daniel represents the angelic beings inquiring 
carefully as to the times of Messianic fulfilment, and the angelic appearances that 
greeted our Saviour's life from Bethlehem to the Garden are instances of the intense 
interest which filled the higher intelligence in relation to the great work of the 
incarnate God. We know but little of those vast hosts of the pure inhabitants of 
the pure heaven. We know they minister to saints on earth and that they are 
agents to the Most High in His government of the universe. We know, too, that 
there are differences among them, such as may be designated by the different 
names of angels, principalities, powers, mights, dominions, thrones; but what those 
differences are we cannot determine. We know, too, that their number is countless, 
indicated by the phrase " ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thou- 
sands." (Rev. 5, 11.) And we know, too, (and this is what our text declares) that 
they are students of the manifold wisdom of Cod in the mystery of the incarnation 
and its results. Not only for us is the great movement of the divine compassion 
made, but for the education of the myriads upon myriads who were never sinners, 
but who are earnestly studying the Divine character in its eternal working. " To the 
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be 
known the manifold wisdom of God." Here are new factors in the great question 
before us. Our view is enlarged, and we see, far beyond our earth and our race, 
the story of redemption making its mighty impression upon all the sentient subjects 
of the throne of Cod. From tlie first promise given in Eden, all along ages of pa- 
triarchs, kings and prophets to the Judean stable, the Galilean carpenter shop and 
the dark tragedy of Golgotl a. and thence through centuries of aposties and teach- 
ers of the glad tididgs to the very day, the entire universe of God has palpitated 
with a holy curiosity to know more and still more of this central mystery of man's 
redemption through the incarnate Piety. This glimpse beyond our world removes 
our isolation and brings us into closest contact wiili all that calls God king. Sin 
and salvation here form no side action in the grand all, but touch the central his 
tory of the universe, and are facts of moving interest wherever intelligence is found. 
The introduction of these spectators and profoundly interested investigators, ac- 
cepted students of the Most High's sublime school, give us a large margin for rea- 
sons why Cod deferred the great facts of Gethsemane and Calvary. As the sur- 



40 

geon in his clinical operation has not only the subject to deal with, but a crowd of 
earnest learners, so (if this crude simile is allowed) the Infinite God of mercy and 
healing had not only our sinful race to treat, but the vast host of watching, study- 
ing intelligences, who, at every step, learned more of the manifold wisdom of God. 
All the promises and threatenings, the prophecies and manifestations by visions 
and dreams, the worship and preaching of holy men, the institution of sacrifices 
and purifications, the establishment and conduit of the Mosaic Church, the historic 
movements of the chosen people, were all lessons to the host of heaven, on which 
they dwell with eagerness, as by them were revealed the perfections of the Divine 
character and government. They were being trained for the understanding of the 
Messianic coming, while they minister to the progressive steps of the Divine pur- 
pose. The angels at Abraham's tent and in Sodom, the destroying angel over Egypt 
and the heavenly army around Elishaat Dothan were, like the angels at Bethlehem 
and those upon the high mountain, and those at the Sepulchre, deeply concerned 
in all the events in which they took part. They were not mere servants sent to 
perform a perfunctory task, but disciples of the Almighty, coadjutors in the ac- 
complishment of His wise and good designs 

Our text represents these angelic ranks as still waiting upon the Divine instruc- 
tion through the same great text-book, the revolving years of the history of re- 
demption — "to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places might be known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God." They 
are still bending over the course of God's wonderful mercy to a sin-smitten race. 
They are still sent forth to minister for them who are about to inherit salvation. 
They still attach themselves to individual saints, so that these heavenly ministers 
are called "their angels" by the Lord Jesus Himself, (Matt. 18:10.) As by faith 
we know "the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father," so by faith 
we know the presence and ministry of the heavenly host. The same revelation 
declares both. The whole work of redemption is of faith. No philosophy can 
evolve it. It cannot be found in nature. Sin demanded for its cure something 
beyond either. Only on a distinct revelation from God, having no germinal con- 
nection with human philosophy or with a material universe, could the truth of re- 
demption be set forth, not to reason but to a most reasonable faith. We are shut 
up to the Word of God for light, and all that Word is light, There we behold the 
Incarnate God, there the sacrifice of the Divine Lamb which takes away sin, and 
there we behold the angelic ministry gladly learning, while they minister, from the 
< ,'hurch of Jesus as it lives and grows. Rationalism has not to do with any one 
part of the revelation more than with the rest. And while rationalism can sub- 
tract nothing, superstition can add nothing. Each is alike a withdrawal of faith 
in the Divine light and a kindling of a human fire. It is in the Church then that 
the higher intelligences study the "variegated" wisdom of God. The mystery is 
no longer a mystery to them, as it was before the Messiah came, but the evolutions 
of that revealed mystery (we are told) the angels still desire to look into (I Peter 
1 : 12.) The Incarnation, the Spirit's testimony, the ascension of the Messiah to his 
heavenly throne, as well as their own attendance upon the Messianic humiliation — 
these four parts of the apostolic analysis of the great mystery they have beheld as 
already accomplished and complete ; but the running of the Word of the Gospel 
and its glorification in the faith of the world, these other two items in the category 
still attract their zealous attention, and herein to these principalities and powers is 
daily made known the manifold wisdom of God. It is the living, growing Church 
they study. Let us then endeavor to answer the three questions : What is the 
Church? Wherein is their delight in its study? And what influence upon the 
Church should this known position of the heavenly host evert ! 

1. What ie the Churchf Our question, of course, has no reference to the primi- 
tive assembly, nor to any mere aggregation of this, which may constitute the 
churches of a district or of all Christendom. It is the universal Church which an- 
gelic hosts regard, and their discernment assuredly does not require the outward 
and visible boundaries which are so apt to regulate a human definition. Immedi- 
ately before the description of the mystery of God (with which we began this dis- 
course) the apostle gives a statement regarding the Church, which may aid us in 
our inquiry, lie there declares that the CI lurch of (fod is the pillar and ground of 
the truth, or more exactly the pillar and es ahlishnient of the truth, which is a hen 
dyadis for "the established pillar of the truth." If by this is meant that Cod's 

glorious truth of redemption rests upon tin' church as its support, it must be as 
regards the truth's manifestation and not its existence. Assuredly no one could 
for a moment have so inverted a perception as to suppose that God's grand purpose 



41 

of mercy and its efficient action in Christ Jesus depended on the Church, when the 
Church grows altogether out of that mercy and its marvellous activity. If the 
Church, as a pillar, supports God's truth it m ist be in some such way as will not 
mar the truth if the support be withdrawn. God's eternal truth cannot be condi- 
tioned on human elements, however much those elements may enter into its mani- 
festation. This apostolic statement must refer to the manifestation of < rod's truth, 
the fixed and firm way in which the Church on earth testifies of and reflects the 
mercy which came from heaven to save our race. What adds to this view of the 
declaration is the fact that the pillar in Jewish architecture really supported noth- 
ing, as it did in Egyptian Greek and Roman edifices. There were but two pillars 
in the Jewish tempie, and these, Jachin and Boaz. stood before the naos in wonder- 
ful majesty and beauty, but they supported nothing. Read the description of these 

superb shafts in the sacred r >rd "their chapiters of brass live cubits hi ch, their 

nets of checker-work, their wreaths of chain-work, seven for each chapiter, their 
double rows of pomegranates, one hundred in each row, and the lily-work mingled 
with all,"— ami you catch some notion of the exquisite fairness of these two pillars at 
the porch of God's house. The context shows that the temple was in the Apostle's 
mind when he wrote, and these would be the pillars to suggest his reference. More- 
over, the names of tile pillars, Jachin and boaz, from the words signifying estab- 
lishment and strength, would prompt naturally the use of the word establishment in 
his writing. If we are correct in tins view, then the more clearly is the < Ihurch, as 
a pillar of the truth, a pillar to manifest the beauty of the truth, ami not in any 
sense a foundation on which the truth rests. In this same sense James. ( 'ephas and 
John were pillars, not that they sustained the truth or the Church, but that they 
exhibited by their conspicuous and consistent lives the beauty of the truth and the 
excellency of the Church. The Church then, as the established pillar of God's truth, 
is the grand manifestation of the truth as it is in Jesus, as it concerns human re- 
demption, as it is the mystery of Cod in its living solution. It seems that this apos- 
tolic statement must withdraw us very far from all outward form and formula as 
our criterion in determining the Uhurch. We must look for that which an- 
swers to the objective gospel by its subjective life. We must find pure character, 
divine life, godly communion, brotherly love, for these only, as a mirror, can reflect 
the grace which brought heaven down to earth. Ecclesiastical lineage, historic 
catenation, formal words can have no weight in the decision concerning the < 'lunch 
if its characteristic be the manifestation of the redeeming grace of God, I he truth of 
the overwhelming: mystery. And are we not brought by these considerations to 
regard the individual man, for it is each individual man who can receive by faith 
the truth into his life and so manifest it, and are we not compelled tosay that the 
Church of Cod is the company of believers, no more, no less'. - Everything outward 
must grow from this centre, as the shell grows from the animal life and not the ani- 
mal life from the shell. If this, then, be the Church, we can readily answer our 
second question. 

2. Wherein in the angeW delight in ilx study of the Churcht It is just the de- 
velopment of the new divine nature implanted in man, binding men together not 
by carnal interest, but by holy love, growing broader, deeper through the ages 
toward millennial fullness. They must watch this with a thousand-fold the delight 
we witness the advent of Spring and the development of the new leafy year, as 
they remember the Paradise once given over to the fierce winter of sin, and look 
longingly for the new Eden with its myriad plants of grace and fruits of righteous- 
ness. Surely these are lit angelic, studies. We cannot imagine those pure seraphic 
beings pleased with the pomps and splendors that dazzle the eyes of human multi- 
tudes and to which Kings are wont to give the name of " Church. " We cannot 
picture these holy intelligences taking delight in the punctilios of an intricate 
ceremonial and captivated by the charms of earthly art. Our minds revolt from 
so unseemly a conjunction. It is God's truth impressed upon the heart and life, 
the outgoings of love in its forms of forgiveness, forbearance, sympathy, patience, 
gentleness, and its combinations with godliness, faith, courage and exalted hope. 
Where loving Christians assemble, there the angels love to gather, and hence one 
of the apostolic arguments for carefulness and propriety in such assemblies is this 
— "because of the angels.'' The individual history of every believer must be a 
study of holy curiosity to the students of the divine mystery. Our Saviour became 
one of us. He entered fully into the race; and the great mystery of which he is 
the central figure may be said to be repeated in its movements in each soul 
wherein Christ is formed. Indeed the words of the Apostle are, "Great is the 
mystery of piety." Is it not the mystery winch piety enacts as well as that which 



42 

it beholds in the Redeemer? Is not the Christ-career (so to speak) repeated in each 
believer, for he lives not, but Christ lives in him. Look at the six points. God is 
manifest in his flesh, for he is the temple of the Holy Ghost; his new life is 
reckoned just in the Spirit's witness— he is t\xv& justified in the .Spirit; he is seen of 
angels according to the tenor of our theme; he is preached unto the Gentiles as his 
Christian conversation is known to all; he is believed on in the world, when he is 
trusted as the Saint of God; and at the close of his earthly career he is received up 
into glory. Does not each believer thus forn an appropriate study of the angelic 
host as lie develops in himself the great mystery of God? Is it too much to believe 
that this Christ-life in man draws to each believer the unwearying attention of 
heavenly companions? Does not Jacob's ladder have one, at least, of its fulfilments 
in this tracing of the likeness between Christ and His own redeemed ones as they 
abide in the earthly Bethel, the house of God, the Church of the living God ? This 
leads us to our last inquiry: 

3. What influence upon the Church should this known position of the heavenly 
host exert f It may be suggested that God's watchful interest in His People is 
enough ; that we need no other incentive than this in our course of grace toward 
the glory of God. But has not the apostle pointed us to Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samuel, David and an innumerable company 
of glorified saints, with the encouraging cry: "Seeing we are compassed about 
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which 
does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before us." 
If we are to look to men — glorified men— as spectators of our course, and 
draw an argument for faithfulness from this source, shall we not use the revealed 
fact of a countless host of angelic witnesses, most eager in their watching, as an 
incentive to our holy living, as we press forward toward the mark for the prize of 
our high calling ? Is there not a new element of interest here which we find not 
either on one hand in the ranks of glorified saints or on the other in the sublime 
wishes of our God Himself ? Is there not (as we have used the phrase before) a 
holy curiosity in these that cannot mark the others who watch our heavenward 
way ? They are not omnicient as God is, and they have not had our experience as 
the glorified Saints have had it, and this lack in them gives us the power to present 
with fresh force to them the developing power of the Christ-life in us. We can in- 
struct them in the ways of God's grace. We can make them start with new sur- 
prise by our new attainments in holiness. Here then is the lever which our text 
furnishes to the thoughtful Church for its elevation to a higher plane of godliness, 
a motive which if allowed to act, must have its own peculiar force in removing the 
inconsistencies which so often disfigure the Christian name. The view thus af- 
forded us gives a new depth of color to the inspired statement that God hath made 
us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and to that other sublime as- 
sertion that our citizenship is in heaven. If we walk, the conscious companions 
of the holy angels, the angelic standard of holiness will be ever before our minds 
checking the usurpations of selfishness and earthliness in a realm that is legit- 
imately divine. It would not be so much the action of the reason, syllogistic- 
ally enforcing our consistency, as the excitement of the heavenly affections and 
the higher spiritual taste. The divine instinct given us, when Christ is given us, 
would be directly addressed, and we should receive very much such influences 
ms we might expect to receive if we were admitted to the actual society of the 
heavenly world with all our imperfections still upon us. We have a word used by 
religious writers, and yet, 'tis true, a clumsy word, which describes the condition of 
soul likely to be evolved under such influences as these: I mean "heavenly mind- 
edness," a condition in which the graces flourish without a touch of legality, and 
spontaneity replaces effort in the holy life. 

1 1 will not be said that, by thus setting before ourselves the angels' interest in 
t he < 'limvli. we are withdrawing the attention from our Lord Himself, for the com- 
plexity of motives is a strengthening of each separate motive in the aggregate. 
The more we give heed to the angelic witness, the more will the love of Christ 
impel us. If, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
angels, his own glory is only enhanced by his angelic accompaniment, surely in our 
own faith-view of our blessed Saviour, the beholding of the heavenly host will de- 
tract nothing fioin our admiring love for Him by whom they live and form the 
ministry of salvation. Furthermore, if the Lord himself upon the high mountain 
and again in the garden of Gethsemane received the encouraging help of angelic 
companionship, surely his disciples, who are still in the vale of temptation, may find 
no danger in receiving a like encouragement from the same interested and sympa- 



43 

thizing helpers. Still again, as our knowledge of Jesus himself may be increased 
by our study of his image in his own saint, so we may deepen our appreciation of 
our Lord by contemplating the holy ones on whom the reflection of His own 
radiance is ever seen, a contemplation possible to the soul only through the teach- 
ings of the Holy Ghost. To manifest the wisdom of God to the angelic world is 
then the motive which the text offers to the Church of God for its faithfulness and 
purity. That wisdom will be manifested in the increasing depth of personal piety 
and in the new conquests of the Church from the world. These are the lofty aims 
to which all forms, plans, methods, should he altogether subordinate and sub- 
sidiary. They are the irreat ends of redeeming grace, the essential evolution 
of the' mystery of God. The affectionate interest of the holy intelligences is en- 
hanced as we run in the line of our Lord's great purpose and make fruitful the 
travail of His soul. To run counter to this, to build up an earthly structure, to 
substitute official dignities for spiritual ministries, to frame a perfunctory system 
for a warm and living communication, to magnify the letter at the expense of the 
spirit, is to chill the hearts of the heavenly witnesses and disappoint their earnest 
gaze. A due regard to these celestial students of our course will render the Church 
of Jesus not only more spiritual, but more united. The oneness of Christ's work 
will be reflected in the oneness of His people. All differences will be shunned as 
bringing a reproach upon the one faith and one baptism, which have marked the 
Church from the world, and thus thwarting the angelic expectation to see the 
assimilating processes of the Holy Spirit perfected. The differences that now ob- 
tain in the Church of Christ, so far as they isolate one portion from another and 
form, in spite of protest, a quasi antagonism in the one mystical body, are a shame 
to those who emphasize them, and should arouse every believer to earnest, prayerful 
effort toward their obliteration. The quick recognition of the Christ-life in others 
and the ready union with all who possess that life in the common service of the 
Master should characterize every Christian for Christ's sake, for his brethren's 
sake, and because of the angels. 

The Rev. F. B. Savage, of Union Presbyterian Church, of New- 
burgh, offered the closing prayer : 

Thou Great Head of the Church: We thank Thee for what we have heard 
this day of Thy dealings with this people. We thank Thee for the memories of the 
past, laden with the sweet fragrance of lives spent in Thy service, of the glorious 
witness to the power of the Gospel of Christ. We thank Thee that Thy people have 
so often met Thee in the Sanctuary, when the sacrifice having been made and the 
blood offered through Jesus Christ Thou hast been propitious to Thy people — Thy 
presence has gone with them and Thou hast led them. And now, as they stand on 
the threshold of another century, we pray that Thy presence may go with them, 
abiding in their midst, that the word preached by Thy servants from this sacred 
desk may prove the power of God and the wisdom of God to the salvation of many 
precious souls. And may this people be "strengthened with might in the inner man, 
that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that they, being rooted and grounded 
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length 
and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, 
that they may be filled with all the fulness of (rod. Now, unto Him that is able to 
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power 
that worketh in us ; unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout 
all ages, world without end." Amen. 

The congregation rose and sang with much spirit the following hymn, 
composed for the occasion by the Rev. J. Macnaughtan, of Newburgh, 
to the tune of " America." 

i. ii. 

Our father's God and ours, Changeless 'mid change we trace] 

In these centennial hours, Thy care, Thy love, Thy grace, 

Praises delight; From those far years. 

And the glad song we raise, Now strength and beauty crown, 

Does but prolong the praise, ( lentennial gifts adorn 

That through the vanished days, The infant Church then born, 

Has.been Thy right. "Mid faith and prayers. 



44 

in. rv. 

Thanks for the men bestowed, Brave, loyal, true, the dead, 

Who with Thy grace endowed, Christ sanctified, Christ led, 

Thy people led; Our heritage ! 

Who toiled through praise and blame, Help us, dear Lord, that we 

Workmen who did not shame As brave and true may be, 

The Gospel, or the Name Writing such deeds for Thee, 

of our great Head. On our new page. 

v. 

Our father's God, and ours, 
In these centennial hours, 

Grant us Thy grace. 
And may the song we raise, 
Prolong Thy glorious praise, 
Till in millennial days 

We see Thy face. 

The Benediction was pronounced by the Rev. C. W. Fritts, of Fish- 
kill-on-Hudson. 



CONGRATULATORY LETTERS. 



Among the many congratulatory letters received, the following have 
been selected as a sample : 

Newburgh, New York, Nov. 12th, 1884. 

My Dear Doctor Hall : I regret that I cannot be with you during the anniver- 
sary services of your church. 

One hundred years of work for Jesus ! This is something worth recalling and 
commemorating. It is a grand record for heaven as well as for earth. May it be 
counted worthy to be held in everlasting remembrance by the great Head of the 
Church. 

I rejoice with you on the occasion, and in all the good your church has been 
instrumental in accomplishing during the past hundred years. To my own cordial 
greetings, I feel assured that I can add those of my brethren of the Reformed Epis- 
copal Church. We wish you peace and prosperity in the name of our one Lord. In 
your accomplished work we sympathize; to your present rejoicings we respond 
with hearty Aniens ; and for your future we ask the continued guidance and help 
of the Divine Spirt. 

May your Church continue to be a bulwark for the truth, useful and faithful, 
even to the day of the manifesting of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

With fraternal regards, I remain, my dear Doctor, 

Yours truly, B. B. LEACOCK. 

Rev. W. K. Hall, D. D. 

Parsonage First Presbyterian Church, \ 
Racine, Wis., Nov. 7, 1884. | 
My esteemed Brother Hall: Your kind invitation to be present at the centennial 
celebration of the First Presbyterian Church in >>'ewburgh, N. Y., on the 13th, is in 
hand. If the journey were not so long and expensive, and the cares of a large 
parish so pressing, I should be delighted to accept it and be with you. No other insti- 
tution on earth can seem to me exactly like that church of my childhood in which, 
at the early age of 18, I stood up to confess Christ in company with an aged woman 

brought late into the fold, for she was -e than four score years of age. "With 

fond affection my memory goes back to those childhood days : When good father 
Johnston, as we reverently called him, ministered to us so faithfully, speaking the 
truth in love. Portions of some of his discourses I remember to this day. Under 
his ministry from 1832 to 1844, 1 received impressions which I can never forget. As 
I remember him he was peculiarly earnest and interesting in tin' prayer meetings, 
and yet_inore so in the monthly concerts held on Monday evenings in the old Ses- 



45 

sion Rootu. which was so often packed with people gifted in prayer and very earn- 
est in pleading for God's blessing upon the church and the world, 

The blessing did come. There was church growth and the missionary spirit was 
kindled in the children of the church. 

The strong choir in the high north gallery; what hearty, whole-souled music they 
made without an organ but with a well-played bass viol, and at times violins and 
other instruments. There were many line voices in that choir, for public taste and 
culture had not then outgrown the old-fashioned singing school which brought 
forward a constant supply of new material for the choir and for good congrega- 
tional singing. 

Dr. N. S. Prime was for some of those years teacher in the Academy, and his elo- 
quent voice, as well as that of his gifted" sons, was often heard in that high pulpit 
from which one might speak with a voice of authority as somewhat above the peo- 
ple. 

Hut no scene in that old Church seemed tome so historic and full of thrilling 
interest as that meeting of the Synod of New York and New Jersey, when it split 
intothree factions— Old School. New School and Protestants, or those who protested 
against the right of the Synod to ask its members to which General Assembly they 
adhered. 

How manv yearsof misunderstanding and aversion, if we may not say of mutual 
misrepresentation and bitterness, followed that sad schism which required so many 
yearsof patient, prayerful waiting, and such consummate wisdom forits final heal- 
ing. Happily those days of distrust and division have passed, and the Presbyte- 
rian Church, redoubled in power and usefulness, as a reunited host knows no 
schools but the school of Christ. 

Wishing prosperity and peace to the dear old Church, my first spiritual home : 
and praying that God's richest blessings may abide with it in all the future, 
I remain yours in Christian fellowship, E. CORWIN, 

Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Racine, Wis. 

The following letter from the venerable Dr. Wickham, written upon 
reading an article in the New York Observer upon the Church Centen- 
nial, is of such general interest as to warrant its insertion in this Re- 
port : 

Manchester, Vt., Nov. 24th, 1884. 
Dear Mr. Prime : Your interesting and truthful notice of that venerable man of 
God whom we were wont to call Father Johnston, has awakened reminiscences 
of which it may interest you personally to have me write: 

When he was ordained to the ministry and installed pastor of the united Pres- 
byterian Churches of New Windsor and Newburgh, August 5th, 1807. I was 
present. I was then a lad of ten years, and as my mother had taken me with her 
on a visit with friends at New Windsor, 1 was permitted to accompany her to the 
public exercises of that occasion. It was the first time I had witnessed a service of 
that character; and now after the lapse of nearly fourscore years 1 have a vivid 
remembrance of the impression made upon my youthful mind by what I witnessed 
and heard on that occasion, and of most of those who participated in the ordina- 
tion of the candidate. 

I was conscious then of a vague desire that when I should become a man I 
might be a minister of the Gospel. Twenty-seven years from that time, having 
become a member of the same Presbytery with Father Johnston, and called to the 
pastorate of the Church of which you was subsequently pastor, at my installation 
he it was to whom the part was assigned of giving me the charge. Nor can I ever 
forget the pathos and tenderness of his utterance as he set forth to his much 
younger brother the duty and responsibility of the pastoral office. 

The Church at New Windsor at the time of the ordination of Mr. Johnston had 
the precedence of that of Newburgh, and it was acknowledged to have the prior 
claim to have the services of that occasion performed within its house of worship. 
But in the course of a single generation, while the population of the latter place 
had greatly increased, that of the former was relatively diminished. The Church 
at Newburgh after a few years was so enlarged that it separated from that at New 
Windsor, and thenceforth enjoyed the exclusive ministerial labors of Dr. Johnston, 
until in a ripe old age he was called to his reward. 

On August 5, 1837, just thirty years from the date of Mr. Johnston's installation 



46 

as pastor of the united churches, the house of worship within which that ceremony 
was performed had been taken down. Its timbers were removed to another part 
of the town, and when a new house of worship had been constructed within which 
the same timbers were used, the same Presbytery which had ordained Mr. 
Johnston, though with the single exceptiou of himself consisting of other men, was 
assembled both to dedicate the new structure to the worship of Jehovah and to 
ordain to the work of the ministry and install as pastor of the Church and congre- 
gation worshipping therein, Rev. James M. Sherwood, who is doubtless well known 
to you. The chief performance on that occasion was by Father Johnston, in 
deference to whose wishes the day fixed for those solemnities was, at the comple- 
tion of thirty years from the day of his own ordination within what was sub- 
stantially the same structure, though in a different location. It fell to me on that 
occasion to give the charge to Mr. Sherwood. Residing with his parents in the 
town of Fishkill, he was licensed to preach by the same Presbytery with which he 
became connected by ordination— the Presbytery of North River. 

To yourself, but not to the public, the facts stated above may have some 
interest. 

In regard to the good man who is the subject of your notice, I will sav that 
when attending the Synod, which at that period uniformly met in the city, he was 
always a welcome guest at the house of my parenls. The acquaintance formed in 
childhood was cherished through life, and it added to my happiness during the 
time I spent in Matteawan, that it gave me opportunity often to enjoy his society 
and to have the benefit of his counsel and Christian example. 

Affectionately vours, 

J. I). WICK HAM. 



Report of the Centennial Exercises from the Newhtirgh Journal. 

1784—1884. 



A Notable Centennial — Observance of the Hundredth Anniversary of 
the First Presbyterian Church — Afternoon and Evening Exer- 
cises of Great Interest —Unveiling of a Memorial Tablet — Ad- 
dresses by Several Ministers — Sermon by the Bev. Dr. Howard 
Crosby, of New York — Fine Decorations, Music, Etc. 



The Centennial observance of the organization of the Presbyterian Church in 
this city was finished at the First Presbyterian Church yesterday, services having 
been held both afternoon and evening. The day was a very pleasant one for the 
( lelebration of the event, — one of the finest and most balmy days of " Indian Sum 
iner.'' The attendance of members of various denominations in the afternoon was 
large, many of the number having come from other places to participate in the 
noted event. The services began at 2:30 o'clock. The church was lighted with the 
electric light, among the number of lights being one in the form of a large star, 
placed on the front of the organ. The globes of this consisted of glass of various 
colors — red, blue, green, white, etc. — and it added much to the beauty of the scene 
presented. Many parts of the church were decorated with flowers, plants, ever- 
greens, etc., the whole presenting a beautiful scene. Upon the front of the pulpit 
desk were placed lilies, evergreens, and flowers, both sides of it also being banked 
with choice potted plants. At the back of the pulpit, on the wall, was the follow- 
ing inscription, in large letters: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and for- 
ever. " Beneath it were the dates, " 1784" and "1884" resting against a bank of 
evergreens. Flowers and other decorations were placed in great abundance near 
the window back of the pulpit, at each of the other windows of the church, and at 
the front of the organ. On the front of the pulpit, resting in a bank of evergreens, 
was a large floral anchor of pure white flowers. Upon the wall at the north side 
of the sacred desk was the tablet, erected to the memory of the first two pastors of 
the church, while beneath it hung an elegant floral wreath, composed of various 
hued flowers, in the center of which were the initials "J. J." This was made by 
Miss Ferguson of this city, a niece of the late Rev. Dr. John Johnston. The appear- 



47 

ance of the interior of the church was beautiful in the extreme, and very much to 
the credit of the ladies of the church, who had spent many hours in the work of 
properly decorating the sacred edifice. 

The following ministers and. others occupied places on the pulpit platform or 
anions; the congregation in the afternoon and evening : Dr. Howard Crosby, of 
New York; Br. S. Irenieus Prime, editor of the New York Observer; Dr. F. B. 
Wheeler, B.B., of Poughkeepsie; Br. Irving Magee, D.D., of Rondout; Rev. C. W. 
Fritts, of Fish kill; D. J. Atwater, Bethlehem; Thomas Reeves, Matteawan; Wil- 
liam B. Darragh, Walden; Mr. Sherwood, Washington ville; Ci. P. Noble, Cornwall; 
F. E. Kavanaugh, Wappingers Falls ; Judge E. L. Fancher, New York. The 
following citv pastors were present at the services : Rev. Dr. W. K. Hall, pastor 
of the church, Rev. Dr. John Forsyth, and Rev. Messrs. C. R. North, J. Q. D. 
Findlev, S. H. Jagger, Jeremiah Searle, J. Otis Denniston, John Macnaughtan, 
F. B. Savage, C. C. Manz, J. R. Thompson, \V. H. Becker, Samuel Carlisle, H. 
V. S. Meyers, Arthur Jones, Frederick Hinckley. 

At the evening service, the Rev. Br. Crosby, the Rev. Br. Hall and the Rev. 
Messrs. Searle, Macnaughtan and Savage wore the Genevan or teacher's gown, 
thus reviving the ancient Presbyterian usage, which has always been retained in 
Scotland and in many of our American cities. 

THE MEMORIAL TABLET. 

It is made of grey stone of a shade very similar to that of the columns of the 
church, quarried, as we are informed, in Illinois. It is very chaste in its design, 
without elaboration or excessive ornamentation, and in perfect harmony with the 
interior of the church in the simplicity and purity of its outlines. It has a rich 
and substantial appearance, and evidently was designed by one who has a refined 
taste. Its position is on the west end of the church, about a foot or so from the 
north side of the pulpit arch. 

The inscription upon it is in gilt and is as follows : 

In Mcmoriam. 
The Reverend John Johnston, D.D , 
Pastor of llns Church from 1807 10 1855. 
Died August 23, 1855, 

Aged 77 year-,. 

The Reverend W. T. Sprole, II. D., 

Pastor of this Church from 1856 to 1872. 

Died June 9, 1883, 

Aged 74 years. 

This tablet was erected by the congre- 
gation upon the centennial anniversary of 
the organization of the church, Novem- 
ber 13, 1884. 

Editorially the Newburgh Journal published the following : 
Yesterday's Centennial. 

Yesterday's Centennial observances, while of special interest to the members of 
one of our religious organizations, possessed features of interest to all our citizens. 
The occasion recalled the times immediately after the close of the Revolution, 
when, if the historians report correctly, the cause of religion and even of morality 
was at a low ebb, here and elsewhere in the country. It recalled also the valiant 
service in behalf of religion and morality rendered in their respective fields of de- 
nominational toil by men of cherished memory like Boetors Johnston and Mc- 
Carrell, long since passed away, and Sprole and Brown, who recently entered into 
rest. It is well that these memorial days should be set apart, when the younger 
generation, in Church or State, may pause in the rush of business long enough to 
pay reverence to the memory of the fathers, study their motives and methods, and 
inquire how much we of this day owe to their devotion and their patriotism. How- 
ever progressive may be the views of the man of the present, he will not deny that 
he may learn useful lessons from the past. In centennial and other memorial ob- 
servances here such lessons have been impressively enforced by capable men, close 
students of contemporaneous events and the history of former times. In the 
record of yesterday's observances, which we publish elsewhere in this issue, there 
will be found much food for thought. 































































































































































































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